


The wish on the star has finally been redeemed.

by Chemical_Romance_Queen_of_Roses



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: ABDL, Bed-Wetting, Consent Age play, Daddy Arthur, Diapers, Established Relationship, F/M, Infantilism, Little Mordred, M/M, Messy, Multi, Non-Sexual Age Play, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pacifiers, Papa Merlin, bottles, pull-ups, sippy cups
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-21
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2018-05-22 06:30:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 156,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6068770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chemical_Romance_Queen_of_Roses/pseuds/Chemical_Romance_Queen_of_Roses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Star light, Star bright, the first star I see tonight; I wish I may, I wish I might, Have the wish I wish tonight.”</p>
<p>Mordred has spoken that particular rhyme so many times, he wonders if it even valid anymore. </p>
<p>Mordred at nineteen has never had a family of his own.  He was bounced from one foster family or group home to another before ageing out of the system.  Never thinking that the star he always wished on would ever grant his true desire. </p>
<p> Merlin and Arthur have been looking for a little of their own for the past year now. They were Uncles to Lance before he found his Mommy and married Gwen. Could the young waiter at Queen Witch’s Diner be the one?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The New Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This is dedicated to all the wonderful writers that I have read over the year. This story is being beta by the wonderful and lovely Miss. Littlewebby. In addition, I don’t not own the TV show Merlin. If I did, it would have been totally different. This is just the character running around in my head. Sorry for my rambling, this is my first work on this site and I extremely nervous about it. 
> 
> P.S. Please let me know if I am missing any tags.

October 24th

Mordred could feel the sweat starting to drip onto the collar of his button up shirt. His blue eyes were scanning and rescanning the bold building numbers in front of him. There was 411, 415, 419 and 421 but where was number 417? There has to be a number 417 around here somewhere. He knew the buildings behind him were even numbers which could only signify one thing; Mordred had gotten himself lost. He thought he had followed the map exactly but maybe, just maybe he had taken a left instead of a right. 

Mordred cursed himself for thinking he had the capability of finding a place that wasn’t in his two block radius comfort zone. For everything Mordred had needed in life so far had been magical found within a two block radius of his apartment complex. Desperation for a job and rent being due in three days had pushed him to location unknown. Now he was more concerned about trying to find his way home than the job interview he was supposes to be at already. Retrace his steps was all he thought he needed to do but was it this way or that. Mordred could feel the panic beginning to set in.

“Hello.” a loud voice came from behind him and Mordred could have sworn he jump six feet up in the air that day.

His heart racing as he turned to a man dressed in a bright colored t-shirt and overalls with a train on it He smiled at Mordred as if the sun was made of gold. There was a woman with the man and she looked him over before handing out a flyer. A.B.L. C. in bright bold colored letter stared back at him as he looked at the paper in his hand. What did that even stand for?

“Adult Baby and Littles Center” he heard the woman say as if reading his mind. “It’s a wonderful place; it’s how I met my little Ewen.”

Mordred snapped his head up to look at her. She was giving him a generous smile. The type people who were truly happy gave before walking away. Mordred watched the couple trying to hand flyers out to others bystander. Mordred figured they were trying to pay the housing fee by getting new members in the door. 

Several centers had come to his last group home looking for people to join. They claimed to help ease into the world of being an adult baby or little. Many stating that finding a loving family took three months or less. Mordred had acquaintances that had taken the opportunity right before they turned 18. Most figuring they would finally have the one thing they were always hoping for. Mordred knew even if he wanted to, it would most likely never work out for him. He would have to pay the center back when it became clear he was in no way going to get picked. For he had seen what had been written on his file once at a foster home, he had been labeled as unwanted.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Morgause knew the minute the kid walked through the door of her diner, it was destiny. The lost puppy needed her help. She would have to tell Kara to remove the ‘help wanted’ sign because there would be a new employee once she was done talking to him. 

“Are you looking for a job?” She asked as the boy walked up to the cash register which she was tending to.

Morgause smiled as the boy’s eyes grew wide before quickly nodding his head as if to keep from changing his mind.

“Great, follow me to the back then.” She said as she opened the latched counter door to let the boy into the kitchen area and to the far back where her office was located. Normal she would make a person come in through the backdoor. However the boy looked distressed and she was not about to lose him. 

Morgause looked him over once she had closed the door to the office and grinned. She could already see what the future had in store for this soon-to-be-employee. Of course she had to make sure she was correct before she got too carried away.

“My name is Morgause and I am the owner of Queen Witch’s Diner.” she said extending her hand out.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you ma’am” said the boy softly, shaking her hand gently and swiftly before letting go to stand awkwardly. “My name’s Mordred ma’am.”

“Ever worked in a diner before Mordred?” she asked as she offered him a seat 

“No ma’am.” the boy said shaking his head as he was looking at the floor before quickly looking back up at her “but I did work as waiter at a restaurant, would that count?” 

Morgause nodded hoping to give the boy some positive energy. She could feel there was a fighter inside of that shy quiet frame. With what she was thinking, he was going to fit in perfectly. Just what the doctor ordered came to mind. Her smile widened as she gave herself a point when the boy finally sat down. Then she saw the bright colorized flier in his hand and knew it was indeed fate. She had a few couples come in lately with those asking for her to hang one on her city event board. She had refused due to the fact that she knew of the ways that those centers worked and would not allow for anyone to go through with that kind of torture. Of course if the boy was considering that, then point two would be awarded. Her plans were going to go swimmingly. 

“Are you interested in the A.B.L. Center?” She asked concernedly.

“Oh …no ma’am. They were just um handing these out to people.” said the boy as his face started turning red before he became fascinated by the floor.

“Relax Mordred. I was just asking.” She said serenely. “If you are thinking about joining the center, I could offer to help.”

Morgause could see the cogs slowly moving inside the younger’s head. He was going to be a great worker, she could tell by his hands that at the moment were pushing through his brown wavy hair. She could tell that there were too many burdens on him for the true version to shine but he was going to be awesome. She knew she was going to miss him when the timer counted down to 0.

“What do you mean by help?” he asked timidly as if the moment it becomes real, the cards would be off the table.

“For every day you work here for me, I will pay for when you give up on this reality and want to try another. You will still get paid each week so don’t fret about money”

“I wouldn’t be able to pay you back ma’am” said the boy, frazzled as he stood up.

“I never said you had to” she said praying he wasn’t back peddling away. The dream clouds were turning dark.

“But why would you help me? You don’t even know me. I’m just a stranger who walked into your place.”

“Sometimes it takes a stranger to help a person see the good inside.” She said as she stood up hoping to be able to block him from leaving if he decided to run and held out her hand to him.“Beside I know what it likes to be the branch on the ground, Mordred. It is very hard to let someone in but I want to help you, like the stranger who provided a hand to me when the time was needed.”

“I might never get chosen” said the boy looking at her uneasily.

“If no one comes for you, I will gladly take you for my own.” She said now understanding the issue.

“Really?” said Mordred softly looking at her hand which she had lowered.

“I promise” said Morgause as she re-extended her hand to him.

Morgause was grateful when his hand was clasped with hers. The world she had imaged had turned back onto its axis. Thankful it had just been a bout of nerves that had thrown things off course for a moment.

“So we are in agreement” she said to make sure it had been all stated out loud.

“Yes, thank you ma’am” said the new employee as he bowed his head to her.

“I’m sure you wouldn’t be thanking me after your first shift.” Morgause laughed “Now, let’s get something in that stomach of yours. I think it’s growled several times if I’m not mistaken.”

“I’m sorry about that ma’am.” Said the boy trying to break free from her hold. “I just need to know what street we are on and I’ll leave”

“Nothing to be sorry about and please stop calling me ma’am, Morgause will be just fine.” she said as she opened the office door to lead him back to the dining area. “And you will stay to eat. As my new waiter, you will need to know what the food tastes like. Customer will be asking for recommendations.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Merlin sighed as he looked over at his grumbling grumpy husband. A promising morning had quickly turned into a sour day. They had received a call from the center they sponsored about a new group of graduates. Over a year of waiting for a little to call their own, the anticipation of maybe finding the one had spilled out of them as they rushed to get there. Every single graduate would have been perfect in the scheme of things. 

Unfortunately, there had been no feelings or ah-ha moment towards any of them. The blow of defeat hit them hard as they drove away with an empty back seat. The only normal part of the day was coming to the diner. It had been a ritual to come every Saturday. Ever since Lance had married Gwen and left a hole in their heart that they didn’t even know was there until he was gone. Lance had been Merlin’s best friend and roommate before they both met Arthur. 

It was only by accident that Merlin and Arthur had found Lance in his little headspace. Their trip had been cancelled due to the bad weather. Arriving back to the apartment in the earliest of mornings, they had stumped upon him sleeping on the couch with a pacifier hanging from his mouth. Rules had been established after the embarrassed Lance explained to them what had been going on when no one was around. They became Uncles to him until Mommy arrived and took over as Lance’s caretaker. 

Merlin instantly felt the loss of not having a little around the house, the cuddling and play. It took months for Merlin to finally get Arthur to realize that he was missing having a little around as well. Both knowing they were meant as caretaker, they started looking online and at centers. 

“Merlin! Arthur! I am so glad to see you” said a voice toward Merlin’s right.

Merlin shook his head as he came out of his thoughts to look over at Morgause instead of staring at Arthur. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Arthur was looking at her and grinning. Merlin was a bit miffed on how Arthur’s mood had changed so suddenly. It was when Merlin noticed what Arthur was truly looking at that he figure it out. There was a young man standing next to Morgause looking a bit uncomfortable. Merlin’s eyes widen as he understood now, the dawning of what was going on. Morgause had told them she was a better match maker.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Well there you are Morgause. We were wondering where you were.” Said Arthur in a mild amused voice as he took in the sight in front of him. The young man was in one word, if Arthur could forgive himself for thinking it; adorable. The way the young man’s face turned a slight pinkish color from the unwanted attention. 

“Sorry to worry both of you. I was interviewing my new waiter” said Morgause as she pushed the young man closer toward the table “This is Mordred.”

“Pleasure to meet you Sirs” said Mordred bowing to them.

“You found one with manners for a change” said Arthur hoping to ease the young man’s anxiety.

Arthur realized at that moment the young man was going to be a challenge and it had him excited. The littles at the center had been like dolls, being the way the center had made them. It had bored Arthur that no matter what happened; the littles would react in a perfect situation. This would be an experience for all three of them. There would real emotions involved instead of just smiles and fakeness. Arthur who was never a visionary like Merlin whom could see the invisible world; he could imagine what life would be like for once. He could see them on the couch cuddling while watching a movie or playing with toy cars. 

“I hope you don’t mind if Mordred sits with you. It got busy while I was away and all the booths and seats are taken.” Arthur heard Morgause say, bringing him out of his thoughts. 

“No problem “said Merlin.

“We have to make sure he knows our order for the next time anyways” said Arthur as he moved closer to his husband to give the young man some room.

“I…”started Mordred.

“No, I will not hear of it mister. It’s a must that you try the cornbread. How will the customers know what is good if the waiter says I haven’t tried it” said Morgause interrupting the young man as she guided him to sit at the end of the booth with Arthur. “These two are my friends, so I promise they will not bite you. They might even help you understand the menu, which is something that you are going to have to learn quickly. I am going to need you for Monday.”

“Oh…um okay” said the younger who looked over at Merlin and then at him with a nervous smile. 

“You are going to like working here. Morgause is a wonderful boss” Arthur stated as he handed the menu over to Mordred. 

“Thank you.” said Mordred as he opened the menu to look it over. 

Arthur grinned toward his smiling husband. It was going to take some time to establish a relationship with this young man but it was going to be worth it in the end.


	2. The countdown is close to zero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morgause know something is wrong because the countdown is going to hit zero sooner than it should have. Mordred been working at the Queen Witch's Diner for six months now and it might just be time to take Morgause's deal. Merlin and Arthur are hoping to find a way to get Mordred to their house before the end of his shift so Mordred does not take the deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you readers for all for the kudos and bookmarks!!! You are all awesome!!! I hope you enjoy this chapter. 
> 
> This chapter has been edited by Littlewebby. She is awesome!!!
> 
> P.S. Please let me know if there any grammar mistakes or need for additional Tags. Thanks!

April 23rd

Morgause had been walking out of her office after dealing with payroll when she saw Mordred walking in for his shift. There was a defeated look upon his face. She smiled at him as he walked past her with a small 'Hello' before grabbing a pad, pencil, and an apron. She could sense a shift in the air as she watched him moved towards the dining area. 

She glanced at her watch quickly to see what time it was. 3:55 a.m stared back at her and she realized it was earlier than she had thought. 

She went over to the board with the schedule to see how long Mordred’s shift was for. The diner opened at four to serve anyone coming out of bars, worked strange hours like nurses and doctors or the odd construction team that had to get working on a pot hole before rush hour began. 

Morgause knew that the timer was getting closer to zero but figured there was still a while to go. Plenty of time to finalize the arrangement that was still in the abstract phase. However, a meteor must have hit before Mordred had arrived to the diner to cause the speed up. There were only six hours to go now. 

Morgause walked over to the chef and gave him an order; Mordred would need to eat something. For the course of action that was to follow the countdown might take quite some time. 

There would have to be some improvisation but everything would work out in the end. She shook her head knowing it was too early to call Arthur and Merlin. The 'help wanted' sign would have to be found and she needed to stop taking in lost ones for the turnaround was a nightmare of paperwork.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mordred took a deep breath in before slowly let it out. He was feeling frazzled and the last customer he just dealt with had taken all of his will power not to scream at. 

It was not his job that had Mordred wanting to pull out his hair but his roommate. The lease on their apartment would be up by the end of next week and his roommate had dropped a bomb on him right before he left for work.

Mordred could see the reasoning in his roommate’s decision to move in with a steady girlfriend than stay roommates with someone you barely knew from a group home.

It made Mordred doubt himself; it always seemed that no matter what he did nothing could last for more than a year. Whether it was the families who foster him or group homes that shuffled him around or his jobs that had only lasted a few months at best. 

First the coffee shop which had complicated machines and orders that confuse him. Then there was the restaurant where the owner’s teenage daughter had taken too much of an interested in him. 

He was surprised that Morgause had not taken him in the office to fire him yet with the way things were going today. He had tripped and a whole tray of food with drinks had crashed to the floor. 

There had been a mix up with the ketchup and mustard containers, which truly wasn’t his fault since they had been filled by the last shift. His pen had stopped working in the middle of a large order for a group of ten. 

The latest thing to go wrong was a salt shaker that had a hole in the bottom; it was after several attempts to clean the section of counter that he realized it. He knew he needed to stop worrying about the future. He would just have to find a place to stay, a new roommate or something but right now it felt like the world was against him completely.

He knew the understanding with Morgause was still on. She reminded him about it every few weeks or so. There was even a time amount listed on all of his checks to confirm that she had been telling the truth from their first meeting. 

There had been a few other meetings, more of a check in to see how he was doing but nothing serious. He knew all he had to do was give in, walk up to her, and say that he was done. He looked around the diner and sighed as he wiped down the counter with the tablecloth is his right hand. 

This had to be the best job to work for. Morgause and his co-workers were wonderful people. They had thrown him a twentieth birthday party just a few weeks ago at the diner with cake and balloons. 

How could he be so cruel to leave them after what they had done for him? No one else had ever celebrated his birthday with him least of all remember it. 

Mordred looked up when he heard the door bell to see one of the regular customers walking in. He grabbed the pot of decaf coffee and a mug as the gentlemen went toward a seat at the counter area. The customer smiled at Mordred as the full mug was set on the placemat with the sugar shaker and a hand full of half and half. Mordred only had to nod while listening to the customer, the order that was always the same had been placed already. 

That got Mordred thinking about the customers. There were a few regular customers that Mordred was happy to see and talk to. His favorite customers being Merlin and Arthur, the couple he had met on that crazy October day. They were like friends to Mordred, if he could call them that. They were constantly talking to him like an equal and to Mordred that was a rarity in his life so far. It was funny because all the other staff wanted nothing to do with them beside Morgause. 

Any other waiter or waitress would pawn the couple off to Mordred. Usually his co-workers would state something about the couple being too picky with the food or too demanding of their time. 

Mordred did not understand because they had always been nice to him especially with the tip. He was kind of hoping to see Arthur and Merlin. Maybe they could help him with what was going around in his head. To stay here at the diner which he loved or to take the option which would change his life perhaps for the better.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Merlin could hear his husband’s phone going off and cursed at it in his head. Was it too much to ask for one Saturday morning to sleep in? It had to be around seven in the morning judging from the sun coming in through the window. All he wanted was for one Saturday, just one to sleep until nine or ten.

It had to be work or something of equal importance since Merlin could feel Arthur getting out of bed. All that was vital to Merlin was that it did not involve him as he tried to go back to sleep. If Arthur could deal with whatever it was quickly and get back to bed, it would be even better. Unfortunately, Merlin never seemed to have luck on his side as he felt Arthur shaking him in an attempt to wake him.

“Meeeerlin!” he heard Arthur call out quite close to his ear.

“No Arthur, let me sleep.” said Merlin as he rolled over to the other side of the bed. “I worked late last night on getting that design ready for the company.”

“I’m sure you did hon.” Merlin knew that the blond haired man was patronizing him. There was most likely a rolling of eyes to go along with the tone of voice.

“Please Arthur, just this once” said Merlin opening his eye to see a blurry version of his husband standing over him.

“Sorry but we have to get ready” said Arthur as he walked from him toward the closet.

Merlin rubbed his eyes as he got himself into a seating position causing the warmth of the comforter to leave him. He wanted nothing more than to lay back down to get a few more minutes of sleep when he felt something hit him, a pair of pants maybe. 

“Arthur, please don’t throw everything out of the closet, I just organized that” said Merlin as he quickly got out bed to stop his husband from dumping half their closet on the floor below.

It was once he was out of bed, that Merlin realized that Arthur had done it on purpose. The smirking grin on his husband’s face proved that he was correct.

“What are you in such a hurry to get me out of bed for” said Merlin glowering at the shorter man. “And are those all my good shirts on the floor?” 

“Mordred” said Arthur while he resumed his search through the closet.

“What about Mordred? We are going to see him at the usual time when we get to the diner like always.” Said Merlin as he moved around the room to where his button up shirts had been littered onto the floor. 

“No Merlin, we have to get there sooner. There's been a cosmic shift, or was it something else. Well whatever Morgause is always talking about, it has happened and Mordred will take the deal.” said Arthur who seemed to have found what he had been looking for and was giving Merlin a grave look.

“Oh” said Merlin as he dropped the pile onto the bed. “We better hurry then”

“That was the idea Merlin.” said his husband as he gave Merlin a peek on the cheek before heading toward the bathroom.

Merlin stood there for a few minutes trying to understand what was about to happen. Mordred would be coming home with them today. They had talked about it and everything was ready. However, it was still a shock to the system, for the dream to become reality. Merlin felt nervous as he walked toward the nursery. He needed to look it over one last time. Make sure everything would be perfect for the homecoming. 

With questions they had asked Mordred and Morgause's help, they had gone with a forest themed room on three of the walls. There were different colored dragons flying on the back wall, an idea of Morgause. Merlin had taken the design even further with a castle on the front wall, he was a graphic designer by trade and his imagination had gotten the better of him.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Arthur was pleased when his husband and he had finally made it to the diner around 8:30a.m. They had made it before the end of Mordred’s shift. Even with Merlin staling them with worry of what would be better for their soon-to-be-little. They had decided on showing Mordred the nursery first rather than talking to him about it. They would see the young man’s reaction and take it from there. If Morgause had been wrong, then they would just let Mordred be. Of course Arthur knew from Morgause’s record that she was hardly ever off. So he walked with confidence into the diner and waved at Mordred before seating in their usual booth. He smiled at his dark haired lover whom he could tell was nervous about the plan.

“It going to be fine, hon. Morgause was ninety-five percent sure about this” said Arthur as he opened a menu giving his hands something to do as Morgause or Mordred probably had already placed their order.

“It’s the other five percent that I’m concerned about.” said his husband who decided to copy Arthur's distraction method with the menu. 

“It’s like we discussed earlier this morning. If it happens that this was all for nothing, we still have the center. I love you Merlin and I will make sure we get a little of our own, even if it isn’t what our hearts wanted right now” said Arthur while he grabbed his husband’s shaking hands and entwined the fingers with his own.

Arthur was grateful when Merlin nodded his head. It would do them no good if they backed out of this before anything had started. Arthur turned his head since he realized that Mordred should have greeted them by now. Luckily for them, Mordred seemed to be in the kitchen. No doubt Morgause had the young man doing something trivial to give Arthur and Merlin some time to themselves. 

Morgause came by a few minutes later with their regular order after they had calmed down and were no longer holding hands. Her timing like always was right on cue. Arthur smiled at her and was thankful when she smiled back at him. 

“I know of a puppy in need of a new home. The lady of his last house turned out to be allergic.” she said to them. “Do you know of anyone?” 

“What kind of puppy?” said a voice behind her and they all turned to find out that it was Mordred with two mugs and a pot of regular coffee.

“I’m not really sure. I have to go check on that.” Morgause said winking at Arthur and Merlin before she walked away from them toward a couple seating at a booth on the other end of the diner.

“Hoping it was a Scottie, Mordred?” said Arthur grinning as the young man slide into the booth taking his usual spot next to Arthur and across from Merlin. 

During the past six months of getting to know each other, the Scottish terrier seemed to come up more often than not. The brown hair man spoke so adamant about it, Arthur and his husband had consider getting one when things settled. Arthur hoped everything went well and a small black fuzzy pup could become part of the family, making the count go up to four instead of just three. 

“Maybe” Arthur heard Mordred say softly and there was the dark cloud or whatever Morgause had been talking about. “I don’t think that's ever going to happen.”

“What makes you say that?”Asked Arthur who tried to asked normally by pouring a cup of coffee for Merlin and himself.

“My roommate doesn’t want to renew our lease” said Mordred. “I’ve been replaced by a girlfriend.”

Arthur coughed trying to keep from spitting out the coffee he had been sipping. This was what Morgause has been trying to tell them before Mordred had shown up. He looked over at Merlin, pleading with him to say something.

“Oh, Mordred” said Merlin who placed his hand on top of the younger man’s. “Do you need a place to stay? We have a guest room; you could stay with us until you find a place to live”

Arthur wanted to hit himself on the head. He should have waited to drink the coffee. Because, the one time they need to be gentle with the situation, Merlin went for the direct approach. He glanced over at Mordred to see that the young man seemed to be thinking about what Merlin had asked.

“You would let me stay at your place.” said Mordred softly as he looked back and forth between the both of them. “But you hardly know me”

“Do you not consider us to be friends, Mordred?” questioned Merlin taking a sip of his coffee. “After all we do know what your favorite drink is. How many people can answer that?”

Arthur nodded at his husband in agreement with him. The question had been well played in Arthur’s option. He knew Merlin had finally lost his nervousness and was full on deal mode. He laughed when Mordred blushed at them before holding up three fingers as if he suddenly became too shy to answer back. There in that moment Arthur could see the little side, hiding behind the eyes of a tired young man. 

“Friends, then” said Arthur placing his hand on top of Merlin’s which was still covering Mordred’s.

“Yes” said Mordred as he smiled at them “Friends.”

“Good, we can take you over to the house after your shift then.” said Arthur removing his hand to grab his abandoned coffee. 

The young man looked a bit taken back before he nodded at them. Arthur felt himself relax slightly as he sipped at his now cool coffee. He looked over at his husband and could tell that the dark haired man was excited but trying to act normal. He watched as Mordred stole a piece of bacon off his plate.


	3. You had me at Dragons.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mordred is with Arthur and Merlin at their home. How is he going to react when he see the nursery? Will Arthur get to play cars with Mordred like he imagined? Plus Merlin makes macaroni and cheese so how bad can things be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Thank you for everything. You are all awesome! This was the longest chapter I’ve ever written and I do hope you like it. Please let me know if there are any errors, I've read this five times but always feel like I’m missing something. Thank again!
> 
> A Big Thanks to SillyMe and Swabie16 for the comments! They are really appreciated!
> 
> This chapter has been beta and edited by the awesome littlewebby!!!

Still April 23rd

Mordred had felt two things the second he had walked into Arthur and Merlin’s home, warmth and serenity. How the couple acted while giving him a tour of the layout, it was like nothing he had experienced before. Foster families had wanted to please the social worker not the kid. There was so much fakeness and lying; it was hard to feel any sort of comfort when living with people who wore too many masks.

Mordred had almost laughed when Arthur had opened a door to a guest room which was full of nothing but boxes. He watched as Arthur and Merlin quarreled back and forth on who was responsible for the room and could tell that there was no hatred in their words. Unlike so many foster parents who screamed and shouted with darkness in every spoken syllable.

Turned out the guest room had once been their old roommate Lance’s. The boxes were his and even though it had been over a year, Lance had yet to return for his stuff. Mordred watched as Arthur pulled out his phone to write a reminder to call Lance later. They both apologized to him as they made their way across the hallway to another door. Mordred was happy to see that they were humble, something many people would rather deny.

Mordred felt his heart drop to his stomach when he entered the other guest room. His eyes widened as he tried to take in what was in front of him. This was not a guest room but a nursery. He could feel himself starting to panic. They had played him like a fiddle; making him believe that they wanted him just as a companion. When in reality they had only ever wanted a little boy. With him being younger and shorter than the two of them, he must have fit the bill.

Mordred moved toward the dark wooden stained crib in a sense of fear before he noticed the color of the wall behind it. The wall was his favorite color, light Kelly green. Then he looked above the crib, dark Kelly green wooden lettering was hung above it and when he moved back, he realized that the letters spelt his name. Mordred turned his head and saw the dragons on the back wall. He remembered telling them how he wished the beasts were real. They had made this room for him.

Mordred could feel his eyes starting to water up but blinked to keep the tears from falling. He was shocked that they had done all this for him. No one had given him a room to call his own or one that was designed with him in mind. He was still mad at the couple whom he could see out of the corner of his left eye standing in the doorway. They had lied to him and made him feel foolish because all he really wanted were friends. However part of him knew, would he had gone with them if they had told him the truth?

He looked at the lonely stuffed black dog in the rocking chair and couldn’t help but pick it up. He did feel tears fall down his cheeks when he read the name, Shadow. He had told the couple that name; he had wanted to give it to a Scottish terrier if he ever got one. They had listened to every word he had said, taken the time and effort to get to really know him. Something most people never did, they used him for the money received from the government or as cheap labor like the last group home he was at.

He felt the anger starting to diminish inside of him. They might have been wrong in the way that things had happened but they were doing it purely for him. He asked himself if the center he had been planning to leave his job for would have been better and felt himself shaking his head. He hugged Shadow before turning to find Arthur and Merlin in the room not far from him.

“Mordred” he heard Merlin say in a concerned voice.

He had wanted to yell at them. Scream how wrong they were for bring him here. For thinking that he wanted this kind of life. Though the bedding inside the crib looked very comfy and soft from where he was standing, much better than the sheets on his bed at the apartment. Then there was the fact that he had decided to make a go at being at the center, this really was not that far off from that.

Here however were two people trying to let him be what he had dismissed for so long and give him what he always wanted, a family. He knew he might never find that with the center. If they had just talked to him about this, been opened from the start maybe he wouldn’t feel so wronged.

Mordred noticed that Arthur was moving toward what looked like a changing table. He felt a shiver run down his back. Morgause had explained to him things in which she had heard about at the center. He would be forced into diapers, made to suck on a pacifier gag, and have mittens on at all times in the beginning. He realized he had the upper hand here; they wanted him to be their little boy. Then the couple would be more likely to compromise if it got him to stay.

“No diapers” he said walking over to Arthur boldly.

He was not going to deal with the kind of torture if he had a say. It was something he dreaded when he had decided he would quit his job for the center. One of his nightmares was the agony of sitting in a wet and messy diaper praying to be changed by some staff member who could care less. He knew Arthur and Merlin were different that the horrible person of his vision but it was not a chance he could take.

“Is that so, little boy?”Asked Arthur with a quirk of his eyebrow, “A little blond birdie told us that you need them.”

Mordred felt himself turning red in the face. Of course, Morgause had let know them about that.

“But it’s only at night, correct Mordred?” he heard Merlin say behind him.

Mordred turned to him and nodded. It was true, he was a bed-wetter. It was something that no matter how hard he tired to be rid of, never left him. It was one reason many families refused to keep him for long. Most were nice about it in the beginning but once it became an every night affair; they quickly turned against him. For the money they were getting paid was to be spent on themselves not nighttime pants.

“So you will be wearing diapers at night, sweetheart.” Merlin said as he bent down to be at eye level with Mordred. “We will make sure to change you after you wake up. Okay?”

“Yes” said Mordred wondering how they knew about his feeling about diapers.

Then he remembered what Arthur had said. Morgause had been talked to the couple about him and must have brought up his concern about diapers. She had seen him in a pair of goodnights once. He had been called around three in the morning by a sick co-worker. They had wanted to switch shifts and Mordred couldn’t say no to the weary sounding person. He had quickly gotten dressed in his uniform and ran out the door as not to be late for the four o’clock shift. It was only after he entered the back of the diner and took of his sweater, that he realized what he was wearing underneath his work pants. Morgause had been right there and he told her things he never thought would see the light of day.

“If you would rather not be in diapers, how about wearing pull-ups during the day?” he heard Merlin say, which brought him out of his thought.

It took Mordred a moment to realize what Merlin was talking about. His brain had gone to the kind of pull-ups done at a gym before he remembered what Merlin meant. He had seen younger foster siblings wearing them when being toilet trained. He had no memory of wearing them himself. He did know they would be easy to remove if need be, not that he would ever let that happen.

“There will be rules” Mordred heard Arthur say from behind him. “They will be followed or pull-ups will not be an option for you.”

Mordred turned toward the blond hair man. He knew there and then that Arthur was going to be the stricter of the two. He had almost gotten his way with Merlin. He hoped these rules would not be too extreme; he had dealt with impractical ones before and the outcome was never in his favor.

“Okay.” he said as he looked straight into Arthur’s eyes to show that he knew this was serious.

“Rule number one: If we ask you if you have to go potty, you must answer with a yes or no. Rule two: You will tell us if you feel the need to go potty because the bathrooms doors will be locked. Number three: You are not allowed to pull down your pants or pull-up, Papa and I will do that for you.” Said Arthur who pointed his index finger at Merlin when saying the word Papa.

Mordred turned his head to see that Merlin had been typing in his phone and still was. He wondered if those were it for rules. The first one was simple and could be easily dealt with. However, the other two were going to be difficult. He had hoped he could just go to the bathroom on his own alone but those rules made sure he would not be able to.

“Merlin what are you doing?” he heard Arthur say toward the dark haired man.

“If you must know mister rude, I am putting the rules down on paper so to speak. We should have them written out in case any issues come up later” said Merlin who looked up at the both of them after clicking something off the phone.

“Oh, then you might as well re-enter whatever app you were using” said Arthur. “There are two more rules to go.”

“Do we really need to add more?” question Merlin “I think you have covered everything with the three.”

Mordred turned his head back toward the blond haired man and nodded at that. He had felt any additional rules were just going to make it so he had to be in diapers 24/7. He would not allow that to become the case. These people were nice and so was the room but they had sprung this on him with no warning, there needed to be some kind of compromise for there to be peace.

“No, these two will be needed as well. Maybe not now or right away but later down the road” spoke Arthur more to Merlin than to him. “Rule number four: You have three chances a day with the pull-ups; three wet pull-ups will result in diapers for the reminder of the day.”

Mordred could understand where Arthur was going with this rule. It made sense if Mordred was going to be wetting the pull-ups. Of course he was going to try his hardest not to allow there to be any wet pull-ups ever. Therefore the rule would just be to have and hopeful not one that need to be enforced.

“Rule number five: Papa and I will put you in diapers during the day time if there is a situation in which we deem they are required.” He heard Arthur say before he saw red.

“What? Why even bother with the other four rules” yelled Mordred feeling the anger from before rise back up to the surface. There was the unrealistic rule he had been worried about.“You're just going keep me in diapers at all times and say some stupid excuse like we’re too busy or something equally ridiculous.”

“That’s not what Daddy meant, Mordred” he heard Merlin say softly as the dark haired man moved behind him and started rub circles into his back. “How about we give you an example?”

Mordred felt the tension ease slightly and nodded his head. He wished what Merlin was doing to him was not comforting but that would be a lie. He was used to people yelling back at him or getting in his face instead of this calming effect.

“We are going on a trip to a beach house we rent out for a week. It’s going to be a nine hour car ride.” Merlin started.

“We have to leave at two in the afternoon. You might fall asleep during the car ride.” Said Arthur taking over the example. “What would you rather be in when you woke up, a wet diaper or a wet pull-up, pants and car seat?”

“Oh” was all Mordred could say to them. The rule was actually for his benefit and was reasonable now that it made sense. He felt embarrassed for assuming the worst from them. “I’m sorry”

“It’s okay, sweetheart. It was a misunderstanding, nothing for you to be sorry about.” said Merlin as he placed his arms around Mordred and gave him a hug.

Mordred felt confused at the moment, this warmth inside him was unfamiliar. He thought it might be love radiating from Merlin. It multiplied when Arthur came over and hugged both him and Merlin. Then he felt a kiss on the back of his head. He watched as Arthur moved his bangs to place a kiss on his forehead. Mordred could feel tears running down his cheeks. He could deal with whatever fate was going to hand him in this reality if it meant having these two people in it.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Arthur was on the phone in the living room with Percival when he heard footsteps on the stairs. He watched Merlin and Mordred coming down toward him. Merlin had by some miracle gotten Mordred out of the stained work clothes into a soft blue t-shirt with a dragon on the front and a grey pair of sweatpants. Arthur smiled at the both of them, happy to see that Mordred seemed to be in a better mood.

The young man had turned away from Arthur and cried into Merlin’s shirt for a while after the group hug had occurred. Arthur realized he should have felt offended but he had always known Merlin was the softhearted one out of the two of them and was better at handling the situation. Of course the fact that his phone was going off might not have helped. He quickly told Percival again that he was sorry that they were unable to help but definitely next time.

“Sorry about that, Percy needs someone to watch Gwaine” Arthur said to his husband

“You told him we couldn’t right?”Asked Merlin, he tilted his head and looked toward Mordred.

“I told him to try Gwen and maybe next time Mordred will be ready for a playmate.” Said Arthur as he looked over at the young man.

Arthur realized at that moment, there was something on Mordred’s shirt. There was a 'how to train your dragon' sticker on it. He knew those stickers were kept in only two places in the house, both bathrooms’ vanity top drawer. Merlin and he had decided that a reward like a sticker might give off a positive vibe toward the fact that Mordred no longer had any privacy when it came to the call of nature. Of course they knew that most littles liked sticker and in time it would be more of an incentive. Arthur looked over at his husband with a questionable look.

“I told Mordred, if he went potty and let me get him into comfy clothes; I would make him my homemade macaroni and cheese.” Said Merlin

Arthur shook his head softly for he should have known. Of course Merlin would use the one weapon that the dark haired man had in his arsenal, homemade cooking. It had won Arthur over in the end and it looked like it was going to be a success with Mordred as well.

“Well I hope Daddy can have some too since someone ate all his bacon this morning” Arthur said as he tickled Mordred’s stomach.

For a split second, Arthur had wondered if he had gone and ruined the boy’s mood. He had acted on instincts and had not thought about whether Mordred would be okay with being touched. Luckily for him, the brown hair man had just giggled and tried to squirm away from Arthur’s hand.

“Do you want to play cars with Daddy while Papa makes lunch?” Arthur said as he smiled at the young man.

Mordred smiled while letting go of Merlin’s hand and nodded at him. Arthur wondered if it was normal for the young man to be so quiet. At the diner, the boy talked about anything and everything with Merlin and him, as if they were the only ones who would listen.

Mordred followed him as he walked over to the toy chest in the corner of the room to find the box of cars. Arthur almost laughed when the boy copied his motions as he sat down with his legs crossed. Arthur opened the small box and offered it to Mordred allowing the young man to pick his car first.

Arthur watched with awe while Mordred pushed a toy car on the living room rug. This was what he had imaged six months ago. He wanted to pull the young man’s shirt down but did not want to disturb the moment. Mordred’s shirt had ridden up while the boy had crawled to push a car away from the coffee table and the green pull-up he was wearing had become visible over the top of his grey sweatpants. He knew the boy might be self-conscious by the training pants but Arthur couldn’t help but smile.

After one of their meetings with Morgause, Arthur and Merlin left still try to decode one of her statements. She had told them about the puppy not being house broken yet but was teachable. It was Merlin who had figured out the clue and showed Arthur a company that made custom designed pull-ups for adults. They had decided to go with Kelly green as the color for the back and sides since they knew it was Mordred’s favorite color. Of course the color being similar to the nursery, plus the dragons and castle got Merlin’s imagination flowing and he drew a Knight as the main image on the front and three different kinds of swords as the section that would fade when wet.

“Arthur? Why is there no cop car?” He heard his husband ask as he was brought out of his memory.

“What?” questioned Arthur as he looked around and saw that Mordred had pulled out more cars from the box than the two they were playing with.

Arthur watched as his husband maneuvered around the cars laid out on the carpet toward him. Once Merlin was seated next to him, the dark hair man pointed to two cars close to each other as if they had collided. There was a tow truck, fire truck, and ambulance around the cars but like Merlin had asked him, no police car. Mordred was seated not too far off with a flushed look on his face. It seemed the boy was embarrassed for getting caught being so deep in play mode.

“Can Daddy have the box Mordred?” Arthur asked the young man.

“I’m sorry” Mordred said quickly and softly as he handed over the box. “I could just use another car.”

“Its okay love” said Arthur knowing that Mordred would be repeating that phrase often and would need to be told just as many times that there was nothing for him to be sorry for.

Arthur looked into the box and shook his head. If he had known Mordred liked toy cars, he would have made sure to buy more than the few they had.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Merlin would have been happy with Mordred liking his cooking but the way the young man was shoveling it in, had him more concerned. He knew from Arthur that Morgause had made the young man eat around four in the morning. Then there was the fact that Mordred had taken all of Arthur’s bacon and two of Merlin’s toast earlier. So what had the boy eating so quickly for?

“Sweetheart, please slow down. The food's not going to walk away, I swear” said Merlin looking over at his husband sitting across from him for some help.

“Papa telling the truth love. If you don’t calm down, you’re going to get a tummy ache. Let’s come up for some air and maybe get some juice in you.” said his husband taking a blue sippy cup off the table to hand to the young man.

That seemed to break the boy out of his trance. Mordred blinked at the blue cup being in his eye sight instead of the green plastic bowl the macaroni and cheese was in. Merlin saw the boy starting to blush and knew that there was going to an apology.

“I’m sorry, it’s an old habit” said the young man softly putting down his spoon and taking the cup from Arthur.

“It’s okay, nothing to be sorry for. Just try to slow down a little” said Merlin as he went back to eating himself.

“And there's plenty of macaroni and cheese still in the dish” said his husband who was going in for a second helping already. “Daddy will need someone help to eat the rest.”

“Really!? I can have more?” asked the young man looking at Arthur and then at Merlin with a sense of wonder as he placed the sippy cup on the table.

“Yes, of course you can, but you need to drink some apple juice” said Merlin noticing that the boy had only held the cup.

“Can’t I have a cup without a lid?”Asked Mordred giving the sippy cup what appeared to be the stink eye.

“Sorry, this is not negotiable” Merlin heard his husband said with a chuckle. “We have seen you drop far too many drinks at the diner, include your own, to let you drink out of a cup without a cover.”

“That’s not my fault, those cups could be slippery.” said the young man giving them a gloomy face. “I’ll be extra careful.”

“I’m sure you would be, but Daddy and I had already decided that you are too clumsy with dishware to drink out of anything but sippy cups or bottles.”

Merlin was surprised the brown hair man hadn’t argued back at him. He watched the young man grab the cup from the table before letting out a sigh. It seemed like an hour has passed before the boy put the sippy cup to his mouth and took a sip.

“That wasn’t so hard now was it” said Merlin once Mordred had finished drinking.

The young man shook his head and smiled as Arthur placed more macaroni and cheese in the green bowl. Merlin was thankful when he saw that Mordred seemed to be actually chewing this time. Of course he noticed that the boy seemed tired which might be the main reason for the slowdown in the eating approach.

“I know someone who's taking a nap after they’re done eating” said Merlin getting up to start clearing the kitchen table.

“And their name starts with an M” said Arthur who grabbed some silverware to help clean up.

“Don’t need a nap” said the young man who gave a pouty face to them after taking a drink from the sippy cup.

“You should know that's not going to work with us, buddy. We are immune to it; Lance would give us a look just like that to try to get out of doing things too.” Merlin who was at the sink heard Arthur say.

“What, Lance is a little?” Mordred said as he stopped pouting and looked at them confused.

They had talked about their friends to Mordred during the six months of Saturday trips to the diner so the young man knew who were who. However, they had left out the part about people being littles for fear it would scare Mordred off.

“He is” said Merlin grabbing more dishes to put in the sink. “Gwaine and Cenred are as well.”

“But he lived here with you right?”Asked the young man nervously while getting out of the chair he had been seating in toward Merlin.

“He did live with us and we did take care of him when he was little” said Merlin as he placed the dishes he had been holding in the sink.

“So you were his…”started Mordred before the tears fell.

“Oh no honey, we were never Lance’s Papa or Daddy” said Merlin who pulled the younger man into a hug. “We have only ever been Uncles to him”

Merlin could feel the emotional torment the boy had been going through, having the idea about being just a replacement. He pushed Mordred’s bangs out of the way to place a kiss on the young man’s forehead and tightened his embrace on the boy, hoping it would reinforce to Mordred that they wanted the young man and not a Lance 2.0.

“Lance was already dating Gwen when we found out he was a little.” Said Arthur whom had gotten out of his seat as well and was close by but was waiting to see what was going to happen before moving toward them.

“What about the nursery?” said Mordred who hiccupped “He had it first right?”

“No sweetheart. The room with the boxes was Lance’s and the nursery was a guestroom before.” Said Merlin as he ran his fingers through Mordred’s hair to calm the young man.

“I have pictures on my phone if you want to see them” Said Arthur who had grabbed his phone off the kitchen table and was flipping through his photos. “I took some before we started remodeling the room. Then I have some from when we started and the different stages of Merlin’s art work as well.”

Merlin smiled at Mordred as an encouragement to see the photos on the phone. Merlin watched the boy nod his head while trying to hide a yawn. Merlin was pleased that Mordred was absorbed in looking at the photos on Arthur’s phone. It gave him time to clean up the remaining tableware and things from lunch.

Merlin grabbed a premade bottle of milk from the fridge to heat up. He knew this might not become an everyday affair but hope it would help the young man nap for today. Merlin had been feeling an array of emotions himself since this morning, he could only imagine that Mordred’s were like a roller-coaster ride. Once Merlin felt the bottle was ready, he turned around to add chocolate syrup and found both his husband and Mordred gone.

Merlin ventured into the living room figuring he would find a tired little boy and Daddy there. Luck would not be on his side but he could hear faint voices as he realized they had gone upstairs. Maybe Arthur had decided to get the young man to lie down in the crib, he figured. It was a bit surprising to reach the second floor and see the door to Lance’s old room opened.

“What going on in here?”Asked Merlin from the doorframe as he found Mordred staring at the few wall decals of Winnie-the-pooh characters and Arthur going thought a box of Lance’s old things. “I got concerned when I turned around and you were both gone.”

“Sorry hon, I wanted to show Mordred proof that this was Lance’s room and nursery when he was here with us.” Said Arthur as he fished out a few photographs and was scanning through them. “I didn’t think we would be gone for that long but Mordred had to pee so we stopped at the bathroom first.”

“I see.” said Merlin looking over at Mordred who was a bright shade of red but seemed okay enough to show off the newly acquired sticker on the dragon shirt.

Merlin walked over to the young man with the expectation to steer Mordred towards the nursery. The boy was openly yawning now and rubbing at his eyes. Mordred leaned into him when Merlin had gotten close enough. He drew circles around the young man’s back with his free hand.

“Found it” said Arthur coming to them with a photo of Lance sitting on a colorful carpet playing with blocks which was inside the room they were standing in.

Merlin had forgotten that Lance’s crib had been white as he looked at the photo. He noticed that the wall decals were visible from the photo and the widow curtains that were still hanging up. He looked over at Mordred who had relaxed at seeing the photo but was now more interested in what was in Merlin’s hand. Merlin realized that he was shaking the warm bottle of milk and chocolate syrup.

“I think it’s nap time now, honey” Merlin stated as he handed over the bottle to Mordred.

“Don’t want to go to sleep” said the boy sadly to him as all three of them walked to the nursery.

“How about we make a deal.” said Merlin as they entered the room “Papa will lay down with you until you fall asleep if you drink some milk.”

“Alright” Mordred said as they walked toward the crib.

Merlin mouthed a thank you to his husband for going ahead of them and putting down the side of the crib. Arthur smiled at Merlin while he pushed the blanket back to allow Mordred to climb in the bed. Merlin could see that Mordred was happy to be reunited with Shadow, the stuffed dog which they had placed in the crib earlier. The young man gave a sigh as he lied down close to the wall, closing his eyes for a second before re-opening them to look up at Merlin and Arthur.

“Comfy isn’t it love” said Arthur bending down to place a kiss on the boy’s cheek. “Daddy has some work to do but he’ll see you when you wake up okay.”

The boy nodded before placing the bottle to his lips and taking a few cautionary sucks. Merlin wanted to laugh but could only grin as the boy started eagerly drinking the lightly flavored chocolate milk.

“Taste better than you thought, Sweetheart” Said Merlin as he climbed into the bed.

He heard Arthur give a soft chuckle from across the room while Mordred gave a slow nod. Merlin covered both of them with the green fleece blanket as the young man cuddled up to him. He could not help but smile when the boy’s head was resting on his chest and Mordred resumed sucking on the bottle. Merlin looked up when he saw a silhouette hanging over them to find Arthur standing next to the crib. The blond haired man bent down to gave him a kiss on the lips before handing him a pacifier.

“You might need this” whispered Arthur in his ear.

“Thank you” whispered Merlin softly as he looked at his husband while running his fingers thought Mordred’s hair.

Merlin watched as Arthur gave the young man another kiss, this time on the forehead before turning the light down and leaving the room. Merlin turned his head toward the dragon nightlight on the dresser and was happy to see that it was changing colors slowly like advertised. He decided that Arthur and him would have to get a music player for the nursery, it might help lull the young man to sleep.

“This isn’t a dream, is it?” he heard a soft voice ask as he turned his head back to look inside the crib to see that Mordred was sitting up and staring at him. “Not going to wake up in my apartment, right?”

The boy’s eyes were slightly opened and the bottle which had contained milk was completely drained. Merlin wondered how long he had been watching the nightlight. He had hoped to switch out the bottle with the pacifier; he had been waiting for the bottle to become near empty to keep from waking up the young man. Now Merlin needed something to get the boy to go back to sleep, he saw Shadow the stuffed dog whom had gotten lost when he had covered them up earlier. He quickly exchanged the bottle in the boy’s hands with the fluffy dog. Thankful this once for having long arms, he placed the bottle on the nursery’s floor near the crib.

“I promise you that when you wake up, you’ll still be here with Papa and Daddy” said Merlin to the young man as he slipped the pacifier in between pouty lips.

He watched the boy hug the stuffed dog while giving the pacifier an attempt. Merlin thought he noticed the young man give a shrug before lying back down as if to say the pacifier wasn’t as great as the bottle of milk had been but would have to do. Merlin rubbed circles on Mordred’s back and began humming _Pachelbel’s Canon._ Merlin felt relieved when he heard the boy’s breathing even out. He closed his eyes as well, the tiredness from this morning coming back to him. He hoped he could keep his promise to Mordred for he too did not want to wake up and find out that today so far had been an illusion.


	4. I think I can live in your world

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day number two of Mordred trying to live with Arthur and Merlin. How will things go? What is Mordred thinking?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey to all the readers out there, I just wanted to let you know that you are wonderful people. That I would not have gotten this far without seeing so many kudos, comments, hits, or bookmarks to keep me pushing along. This chapter was a bit difficult to write as I had a hectic week. Please let me know what you think, if there are any errors, and thank you again for taking the time to read this.
> 
> This chapter has been beta and edited by the wonderful littlewebby!!!

April 24th

Merlin smiled while he was mixing up the ingredients to make pancakes in a large bowl. He had woken up with this full feeling in his heart. The final puzzle piece had been found and it was right now asleep in the nursery. Merlin could hear the soft breathing coming out of the monitor that was on top of the kitchen island. Even with some tears and distress, Merlin would still call yesterday a success.

Merlin opened a cabinet to see if perhaps there were chocolate chips. This morning seemed to call for banana chocolate chip pancakes. He went over to the kitchen table where a bunch of bananas were laying in a bowl; there he saw a yellow wooden card. He grabbed a few bananas to cut up as he remembered what had happened yesterday evening.

After being woken up by Arthur from the two hour nap, they had all taken a seat at the kitchen table to have a discussion about where things were going. It seemed that Arthur had been busy while Mordred and he had dozed the afternoon away. Arthur had presented them with three colored wooden cards. The blond haired man had spoken about Mordred’s tendency to go non verbal and while his safe word which Mordred had decided at that moment would be gingersnaps was needed, these would be helpful as well.

There was a red card for times when Mordred was in adult mode, whether by choice or necessary reason. A green card was explained next to show that Mordred was in little mode which he would get to one day. Then there was a yellow card which Arthur said represented the middle mode. The yellow card was for times like right now when Mordred was in between adult and little mode.

They had decided that there would be two sets of the cards. One set located in the living room coffee table drawer and the other would be on top of the nursery’s dresser. This way Mordred would have easy access to them; the young man must have left the yellow card on the table after dinner.

“Good Morning Darling” Merlin heard his husband say as he felt arms around him and a kiss on his cheek. “Trying to butter someone up?”

“Can’t I just be in a mood to make pancakes?”Asked Merlin as he placed the bananas he had been cutting up into the mixing bowl.

“If I just meet you, I would say yes. But I know you too well, you want to win Mordred over” said Arthur who moved to turned on the coffee maker.

“What else can I do Arthur, you gave him two weeks to sign the consent form” said Merlin feeling slight stressed thinking about the paperwork as he turned on the stove.

The consent form was seating in the room they used as an office, on Arthur’s desk which had been signed by both of them already. It was a legally binding contract between little and caretakers; Mordred’s signature was need before it could be filed. The consent form was to show that all parties had agreed to the arrangements. Of course it was important for other reasons, there were clause against abuse and violence that if occurred could be used in court to help the little(s) against their caretaker(s). In addition, there were clauses about what would happen to the little if a caretaker passed away.

Most centers made new members sign the form right away. Merlin was worried that before the two weeks were up, Mordred might walk out on them or something might happen that required stitches. The form would be needed to get Mordred on their health policy at work. Without the form, Arthur and he wouldn’t be able to stay with Mordred if they took the young man to the doctor, dentist or anywhere that required the proof. Merlin had already been planning to get Mordred in for a check-up with Gaius before Arthur had dropped the bomb on him.

“Stop worrying hun. The paperwork will be signed before the two weeks are up, scouts honor” Arthur said pulling two mugs down from a cabinet as the coffee maker had beeped to announce it was done.

“I would feel better if you had ever been in boy scouts.” said Merlin flipping pancakes and stacking them onto a warming plate.

“I could join if you like. I know you just want to see me in the uniform.” Said Arthur as he came up to him with a mug of coffee, black just the way Merlin liked it and gave the dark haired man a kiss on the lips.

 

Merlin was still making pancakes when he heard rustling on the baby monitor. Arthur who had been sitting at the table reading the newspaper met eyes with him.

“Will you be okay if I go get him?” asked Arthur getting up

“Why are you asking?” question Merlin as he flipped a few pancakes over to the other side.

“You have a way with him.” said Arthur coming over toward the stove. “He seems to like you better”

“Seriously, this coming from the man who got him to take a bath last night and got him to sit in the rocking chair with you to read a bedtime story.” said Merlin holding out the spatula at his husband. “You just don’t want to change him”

“That’s not true, I’ve changed plenty of diapers and pull-ups before with Lance and the others” said the blond hair man who quickly grabbed the spatula out of Merlin’s hand.

“Don’t make me laugh Arthur Pendragon, I can count on one hand the number of times you have changed a diaper.” Said Merlin while he took off the apron he had put on earlier.

“Would it make you feel better if I say I'll try really hard not to burn these pancakes?” Merlin heard his husband say as he walked toward the stairs.

Merlin opened the door to the nursery quietly and turned the lights up slowly. He found Mordred sitting up in the crib looking around for something. Shadow the dog was next to the young man on its side causing Merlin to wonder what the boy was doing as he walked closer.

“Good Morning honey.” said Merlin as he reached the crib. “Did Papa’s little elf sleep well?”

Merlin watched as the young man stopped searching for whatever was missing and looked up at Merlin. It was no surprise to Merlin when the boy nodded at him. Merlin smiled at Mordred as he undid the latches on the crib side to bring it down. He helped the boy get out of the bed and grabbed the black stuffed dog.

“Ready to get changed?” asked Merlin as he handed Shadow to Mordred.

The young man bit his lip and Merlin could tell they were five seconds away from the tears coming.

“Mordred, there is nothing for you to get upset about. Papa has changed plenty of diapers before and it’s not a problem. I know other people were not kind to you about this but I promise you, I am never going to get mad at you over a wet diaper or pull-up.” said Merlin holding out his pinky to the boy.

“Not even if it happens every day for a million years?” Question the young man who was nervously looking at the finger extended out.

“Would I be giving you a pinky swear if I didn’t mean it?” Said Merlin while he moved closer to the young man and place his pinky finger next to Mordred’s fingers.

Mordred gave him a serious look before putting a pinky next to Merlin’s. Merlin grinned at the young man as they entwined pinkies. He then placed a kiss on the young man’s forehead hoping to ease Mordred’s concerns.

“Did Daddy put socks on your feet?”Asked Merlin as he was undoing the zipper of the blue colored footless sleeper the boy had been placed in last night by Arthur.

“Yes, I kicked them off when sleeping” said Mordred “Don’t like hot feet.”

Merlin had already known this information from Morgause but was glad to hear it from the brown haired man. Arthur and he had bought footless pajamas only and an abundance of fuzzy socks. He would have to find the socks from last night when he straightened up the bed later. Merlin made sure Mordred grabbed his shoulders for supports as he took the sleeper off the young man.

“Binky?” Merlin heard the young man say to him as he placed the sleeper in the laundry basket next to the changing table.

Merlin looked at the young man who was shaking and using the stuff dog to try and hide the slight yellow tinged diaper. It took him a moment to understand what Mordred had asked for. He realized that was what the boy had been looking for when he had interrupted the search, a pacifier. The one the young man had last night must be lost within the bedding. He opened a drawer of the changing table and picked out a green pacifier to hand to Mordred.

The young man seemed to relax a little while sucking on the pacifier. However Merlin could tell that Mordred was terrified about the diaper change. He hoped to show the boy that there was nothing to worry about; he had been telling the young man the truth. He knew he couldn’t undo the boy’s past but whoever made Mordred afraid to trust was a horrible person.

“It going to be similar to last night sweetheart, you lay down on the table.” said Merlin while he helped Mordred climb up the stairs on the changing table. “And Papa will do the rest”

The boy gave him a quick nod before slowly lay down onto the table. Merlin could see that Mordred had gone still and was using the stuffed dog as a barrier between them. He made quick work of taking off the diaper, cleaning the boy, and getting a pull-up situated while humming In the _Hall of the Mountain King_ to help distract the young man.

“All done” Merlin said taking Shadow off of tearful young man’s stomach. “Not so bad now was it?”

“No” said Mordred who took out the pacifier and gave him a confused look before careful sitting up. “Thank you”

“No problem, sweetheart. Papa is always willing to take care of you.” said Merlin as he helped the young man get down from the table. “Now let's get you in some clothes so we can go downstairs before Daddy eats all the pancakes.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mordred tried to remember to eat slowly as he ate some of Merlin’s delicious pancakes. He did feel bad for Arthur who had slightly burned ones but Merlin had told him, it was the blond haired man’s own fault. Mordred wanted to tell Merlin that if the dark hair man opened a restaurant, Morgause would go out of business but was worried it might come out wrong.

He felt himself getting lost at what to say often, if he was supposed to be little was he allowed to speak freely? It was a bit confusing because neither Arthur nor Merlin had talked about language. Mordred found it was easier to just nod in certain situations for fear what he wanted to say would just come out and mess everything up.

Mordred wasn’t going to deny that trying to be little was harder than it looked. He had wanted to say no several times to the couple when questioned if he had to use the bathroom but feared they would force him to use the pull-up if he asked later. So even when he didn’t feel the need, he went just to make sure he got a change to go.

Then there were the tears, he couldn’t remember a time where he cried so openly. He had felt so overwhelmed with the fact that these people had taken an interest in him; he couldn’t stop after what he called the love fest. He was shocked that Merlin hadn’t pushed him away but hugged him tighter, with comforting words and a back rub.

When Merlin started talking to him like he was indeed a little boy, the ball started rolling for him. Mordred had fantasized about how life would be when he had caretakers for months now. He imagined so many scenes in his head about what it would be like after he got adopted from the center, it would have been harder to ignore his instinct instead of follow along with Merlin. He hadn’t realized how easily he had fallen into his role until he was half asleep inside the crib with an empty bottle in his month. Even just thinking about it now made him blush.

Of course looking back, it hadn’t been all for nought. He enjoyed letting go and playing with the toys cars. The warm homemade meals have been amazing to his take out and boxed meals stomach. The cuddling had to be the best thing to happen whether it had been with Merlin during the nap or Arthur before bed time.

“Papa’s pancakes were yummy, right Mordred?” He heard Arthur ask him.

Mordred nodded as he wished he had thought about that simple word to tell Merlin about his wonderful food. Now if he said it, it would just seem repetitive. He looked down at the colorful animal plate that his pancakes had been stacked upon. He had been so busy thinking, he hadn’t realized he had finished eating.

“Are you still hungry, love?” said Arthur holding out a plate to him with a few pancakes still stacked upon it. “Papa made plenty.”

Mordred shook his head and grabbed the sippy cup that had been ignored, off the table. He wasn’t really a fan of cranberry juice as he twitched his nose at the taste. However he would rather deal with drinking it than having nothing at all. Therefore he continued guzzling the liquid until the cup was empty.

“All done” he said suddenly and without thought as he placed the cup down on the table.

He could feel himself turning pink after his brain caught up to his mouth and looked down to avoid the couple gazes at him. It was random times like this were things just happen that confused him the most. Like when he had woken up this morning and been upset over the loss of the binky he had used last night.

Luckily for him, Merlin had just smiled at him and came over with a wet cloth. This was the one thing he liked about the couple; they just went along with what happened. Never making a big deal out of the things he did or say. They just allowed him to be himself which was amazing.

Mordred allowed Merlin to clean his hands and face from the sticky maple syrup that had somehow attached to them, before he followed Arthur into the living room. This time, he was permitted to look inside the toy chest. Mordred could feel his eyes widen, there were so much stuff inside the box. Had Arthur and Merlin bought all of it just for him? He couldn’t be sure but figured that maybe some of the items were left over from when Lance lived here.

He grabbed a coloring box and a box of crayon. Coloring had been one of his favorite pastimes when he was younger. It was usually so he could be left alone, blocks and such meant others could join and Mordred had never been a social butterfly. He felt taken aback when he found Arthur and Merlin joining him on the floor, each with a coloring book as well.

Mordred was about to grab a crayon when his arm hit something. He looked down and saw a binky on a strap hanging from his shirt. He had forgotten completely about it, he had it in his mouth earlier when Merlin had gotten him dressed. He placed the binky in his mouth and gave a sigh as he started sucking on it.

“Someone likes his binky” he heard Merlin say as he was reaching for an orange crayon.

“What?” question Arthur looking between him and Merlin as the blond haired man stopped coloring.

“Pacifier, dear” said Merlin who used a blue colored pencil to point at Mordred. “It’s what Mordred calls them. Sort of like how Lance likes to call them dummies.”

Mordred could feel himself blush as he went back to his coloring. It was not his choice of wording; he had heard a little kid call the pacifier, a binky at the diner. When he had tried to remember what they were called this morning, it was the first word that popped in his head and out of his mouth. He never imaged that the item would make him feel so relaxed. The pacifier was great at helping him calm himself during stressful situations and the noise was useful at drowning out the world around him.

“Oh” said Arthur who winked at Mordred when he looked up again. “Better than what Gwaine calls them, muzzle for littles.”

“Don’t start that, you prat.” Said Merlin while the dark haired man throw a purple colored pencil at Arthur’s back “Now Mordred’s going to be saying it as well.”

Mordred couldn’t help but smile at the couple. They had to be the wackiest people he had ever met, in a good way. They had to be the first to give him nicknames that he didn’t cringe on the inside when he heard them. Far too many foster parents or group home staff members had given him names like creepy blue eyes or freak.

It was usually due to his bedwetting, they always tried to fix the problem. Cruelty use came after reality hit and it was shown that he wasn’t broken, it was just the way he was made. He was still amazed that Merlin had just calmly changed him this morning without a hint of disgust. The dark haired man had acted like it was normal and everything was fine. Mordred had never had anyone react that way before and it made him feel grateful to the dark haired man. Mordred looked over at Merlin who seemed to be humming a classical tune.

He would never have guess he would find such remarkable people in his life. The couple was giving up their own free time to hang out with him. They could be doing so many other things right now that Mordred could think would be more important, than sitting on the floor coloring. The majority of foster families had shooed him off to the side the moment he entered their house. Every time he would be told to do something by himself for hours.

Here he had at least one half of the couple around him most of the time. Then there was the affection they were giving him. He knew from hugs and kisses that they care and dare he admit they might actually adore him. This Mordred had only ever seen from afar but now that he was experiencing it himself, he felt blessed. He had decided there and then to toughen it out at being a little.

Mordred had decided to lie down on his stomach instead of sitting with his legs crossed when he felt it. His bladder was much fuller than he had realized. He looked down at the coloring book and flipped through it which showed that he had done several pages. Mordred looked around and found only Arthur was still coloring with him. He could hear Merlin talking and turned his head around to see the dark haired man in the kitchen on his phone with someone.

Mordred feel worried because all day yesterday, Arthur or Merlin had asked him if he need the bathroom. That was how he ended up with six stickers on that blue dragon shirt by bedtime. He looked at what he was wearing today, a bright red shirt with a golden lion and black sweatpants. There were no stickers found on any part of him at the moment.

Now it seemed he would have to tell them or deal with a wet pull-up. Mordred felt himself starting to panic. He had no idea how to get their attention; he knew Daddy or Papa wasn’t going to come out of his mouth. Of course, he would call Arthur and Merlin those names someday but today was just too soon.

Mordred knew going to Merlin was not an option. Since he was not about to go up to the dark haired man and have the person on the phone know that he needed to pee. He looked over at Arthur who wasn’t that far away from him. He went with the only way he could come up with, poking the blond haired man in the arm.

“What’s up buddy” he heard Arthur say after what felt like a thousand pokes.

“Potty” Mordred whispered as he took out the binky and blushed at the blond haired man.

“Sorry love, I didn’t hear you, can you repeat that?” asked Arthur who moved closer to him.

“Potty” said Mordred feeling modified as he tried to think of what a toddler would say “I have to tinkle.”

“Oh, okay love” said Arthur getting up and grabbing the keys that were attached to the blond haired man’s belt. “Let’s get you to the potty then”

Mordred was beyond thankful as he stood up and followed Arthur to the downstairs bathroom. He had feared Arthur was going to either ignore him or tell him no. He felt pleased when he saw the door being unlocked; at least now he knew they would never deny him the use of the bathroom. He had to force himself to wait for Arthur to pull down his sweatpants and pull-up, since it was still something he was used to doing himself.

Mordred sat down onto the toilet seat, another thing he was still not quiet used too. Merlin had told him the first time that little boys being potty trained sat down. Therefore he had to follow that method as well. He tried not looking at Arthur but the wall as a way to distract himself from his surroundings. Mordred imagined that he was hiking alongside a flowing river. He followed the river to a beautiful waterfall with a rainbow. Then he felt himself go slack as his bladder allowed for the gate to be opened. All Mordred could do was sigh in relief.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Arthur turned his head away from the television screen toward his husband and Mordred. He could see that both of them were deeply engrossed in the movie playing. Merlin and he had decided that after dinner, they would show Mordred the movie that his stickers were based from, _how to train your dragon._

Neither of them had thought about whether the young man had actually seen the movie, when they had been placing the stickers on the boy’s shirt. The brown haired man had questioned them about why someone would name a dragon toothless when it dawned on them. Mordred’s lack of movie knowledge was going to become a thing of the past.

Arthur grabbed a handful of popcorn from the bowl the boy was holding and threw a piece at Merlin. He hoped to get his husband attention; it was difficult having to seat apart from each other. When Lance had been living with them, the man had only cuddled up with one of them at a time. Mordred had somehow wiggled his way in between them and was sitting in the middle of the sofa.

Of course Arthur knew he shouldn’t be comparing the two littles and Merlin would be annoyed with him. However it was hard not to see the slight different that occurred. How Lance was more of a block person and Mordred liked to color. There were the similarities as well; both had a thing for pacifier and footless pajamas.

“Someone’s getting a bath after this” said Arthur on the thought of sleepwear. “Then it’s jammies and bedtime.”

Arthur watched as the young man looked at him and nodded. Then he saw the boy hand over the bowl of popcorn to Merlin. He noticed Merlin quickly pause the movie when Mordred got up.

“I wasn’t saying right now, love” said Arthur when he realized why the young man had gotten up. “We are going to do all that after the movie.”

“Oh” said the boy who sat back down and bowed his head in what appear to be embarrassment.

“If you rather we finished the movie another night, we can” said Arthur hoping the boy had been enjoying the time on the couch with Merlin and him.

“I would like to see the whole thing”said Mordred who looked at Merlin and then at him “If that’s okay”

“Its fine sweetheart, Daddy was just talking out loud instead of inside of in his head” said Merlin to the young man handing the bowl of popcorn back. “Some time he likes to hear himself speak”

“Hey” said Arthur throwing what few pieces of popcorn he had left at his husband. “I do not”

“Since the movie has already been paused, does anyone need anything?” questioned Merlin as he gave Arthur a glare and brushed off the thrown popcorn.

“I think we’re good, hun” said Arthur grabbing another handful of popcorn.

“What about the potty?” asked his husband who looked over at Mordred in a way to give the young man the option before the movie resumed “Any trips need to be taken because the movie can wait.”

The young man in questioned just shook his head before reaching for a sippy cup of juice on the coffee table. Arthur was glad to see Mordred was no longer just following along. It seemed since the earlier episode today, the young man was no longer afraid to say no to them anymore when it came to going to the bathroom.

He knew the boy had been worried about something but he never realized that it had been about them refusing to open the bathroom door. Arthur realized that the Mordred was still feeling them out and Arthur couldn’t blame him. For how could the young man trust them when they had pushed him into this way of life.

Once the end credits were rolling Arthur stood up to stretch. He could tell by the end of the movie that Mordred was getting tired. He debated whether they should skip the bath tonight. He had brought it up to Merlin who had gone to the kitchen with the empty popcorn bowl and cups to clean up. Of course, the dark haired man had brought up a point that Arthur had spoken about yesterday in their afternoon meeting. Mordred would need structure to help with the transition. If they didn’t stick to the schedule in the beginning, it would only be detrimental to them in the long run.

With that conversation, Arthur found himself in the bathroom, bathing a sleepy young man. Mordred was sluggishly moving a toy boat through the bubbles. Arthur had to be careful with his timing while rinsing shampoo out of the boy’s hair since the young man had been openly yawning. He was thankful that Mordred wasn’t as self-conscious as Lance had been; for it was easier to get the young man bathed and in a warm fluffy towel than it had been when Lance was little. Arthur contributed it to the many foster families and group homes that Mordred had lived in as to what had taken away the boy’s modesty.

Arthur was still a bit shocked that the young man had no body hair as he was drying the boy in the nursery. Mordred had explained to Merlin and him yesterday that it had been an April fool’s day prank gone horribly wrong. At a boy’s group home, a staff member had decided to put hair remover in all of the body washes, unknowingly using a type which had been permanent. The boy had explained that it wasn’t all bad, for the shampoo bottles had been tampered with as well and Mordred had forgotten about washing his hair on that terrible April 1st day.

The conversation then brought up the fact that Mordred had not gotten a five a clock shadow yesterday evening. Mordred had explained that he had never gotten facial hair. The young man had hoped to grow a beard or even a thin mustache to not look so boyish but nothing came to be. Arthur was secretly glad because he had been worried about having to shave the young man’s face. Lance had downright hated it when in little mode and Merlin or Arthur had to bribe with candy to get the job done.

Arthur was appreciative of Merlin for planning ahead. Everything had been laid out and in arms length. He gave Mordred the pacifier lying on the changing table before he helped the young man sit down. Of course, Mordred had still been scared stiff when it came to lying down on the changing table to be diapered. Luckily for Arthur, Merlin had distracted the young man with Shadow by making the black stuffed dog dance on the boy’s upper body.

After that Mordred had been fine with being dressed in a soft green colored footless pajama adorned with black stars. Fuzzy green socks were placed on the young man’s feet before he helped Mordred off the changing table. Arthur was a bit shocked when the young man hugged him quickly before walking away toward the rocking chair that Merlin and Shadow was waiting in.

Arthur had meant to leave the two alone, to allow Merlin to put the young man to bed. However he couldn’t help returning to the doorway of the nursery after he took the towels back to the hallway bathroom. He smiled as he watched Merlin softly rocking and telling Mordred the story of a kitten who lost its mittens. Arthur could see from his position how adorable the boy looked, cuddling up to Merlin with one arm tightly hugging the stuffed dog.

Arthur had stood in the door frame until Mordred had been tucked into bed. He grabbed his cell phone out of his back pocket as he realized Merlin’s was still downstairs charging, since the dark haired man seemed to been searching the room for it. He synced his phone with a Bluetooth square box speaker which his husband had placed on the dresser earlier today next to the crib. He quickly swiped through the playlist until he reached Merlin’s classical music set. The speaker came to life playing the first song on the list, _Adagio for Strings._

He watched as the young man slowly started to drift to sleep before kissing the boy’s cheek. Arthur allowed Merlin to do the same before he placed the side of the crib up. Once the latches were secured, Arthur reached toward the monitor on the dresser to turn it on. He gave one last look over at the crib to see the boy was truly sleeping before turning down the lights.

Arthur waited for Merlin as his husband had walked toward the rocking chair to grab the empty milk bottle. It was quite comical that they had tiptoeing down the hallway to the stairway; afraid the noisy footsteps would wake Mordred. Merlin grinned at him when they reached the sofa in the living room. Arthur put his arms around his husband and kissed the dark haired man. For today had been a victory of sorts.

Arthur had accepted the fact that today had been Mordred trying to think and act like a little instead of yesterday late morning Mordred who had been in a go-with-the-flow mode. Arthur knew it had to do with the young man being tired and the emotional chaos that had brought out the little side, making the stressful situation of yesterday doable. He had seen the struggle today; there had been movements of pure littleness. Even if the young man had been upset or embarrassed by those brief moments in time. Arthur could see Mordred was doing his best to fit into their world and become a fixture in their life.


	5. The Strength came to play - Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is day three and Monday, which everyone knew is the worst day of the week. Five in the morning alarm clocks are not a friend of anyone. How will the morning go for Arthur and Merlin?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to thank everyone for the fifth million time for sending me positive feedback. I was stuck on Mordred part for this chapter and since it was going to be a four characters chapter original, I broke up the sections into two parts each. The part where it ends with Merlin does seemed to have a natural break to me so it helped with this decision. I will have chapter 6 The Strength came to play - part 2 up next week. Hopeful Mordred will be nice to me and let me figure out where the story is going. Please let me know if there are any tags need, spelling mistakes, or something doesn't seem right. Thank you again and enjoy!
> 
> This has been edited by the wonderful littlewebby!

April 25th

Arthur like most people disliked being woken up by a buzzing five in the morning alarm clock and the knowledge of the day being Monday. He struggled with the fact of having to go to work while Merlin got to stay at home and be with Mordred all day. Of course, Merlin had worked from home ever since the dark haired man had gotten hired at Pent-King Corporation. Arthur had been at the company for a few years before Merlin had stumped in.

The dark haired man declared him a prat at their first meeting. Arthur like usual had been running late that day and had enter the conference room after introductions had taken place. It had been refreshing to have someone call him out on his tartness instead of staying quiet like other members of the staff did. It was an issue he faced often with being the boss’s son and having Merlin treating him like a normal co-worker had been refreshing. It was most likely the reason Arthur had taken such an interest in the dark haired man.

Arthur yawned as he looked over the sleeping man in their comfortable bed while he was getting dressed for the day. He wondered if he had the nerve to call out sick as he brought up his schedule on his phone. If only he had some warning about Mordred coming here, he would have put in a notice to take a week or two off.

He shook his head and dropped his phone on the bed to grab a nicer tie. A new client was meeting with him at ten and being the head of research meant he could not pawn it off to another co-worker. Arthur knew it was all on him to get this client to sign on with the company. Pent-King Corporation was a consulting firm that helped businesses with the start up or to help get their brand out to the public.

Arthur’s team did the math and reviews to figure out where a company's demographic could be. Usually showing a client the figures on their products potential usually sealed the deal. However this new client was already successful and extremely demanding. Luckily Arthur would have a card up his sleeve going into this meeting for Merlin had redesigned the client’s logo. The new logo was bound to get the client's interest and it could only be used if they signed on the dotted line.

Arthur found himself slightly indifferent about the whole thing. He loved his job most days and would have been thrilled to get the contract. However there was a more important deal going on in his life right now. He had discussed with Merlin last night the need of making sure Mordred felt wanted here with them. If he went to work, would the young man understand or could this break the arrangement.

His husband and he had gone back and forth deliberating on the topic. By the end of it all, they decided that a normal day would be good to show the boy. Then there was the fact that all Merlin had to do was call him and he would get his secretary, Mithian to work out the detail on why he had left for the day.

Arthur quietly shut the door to the master bedroom, wondering if he should just go in to work. He could grab breakfast on his way in and it never hurt to push things along in case he was needed home later. With a glance at the nursery down the hall, Arthur figured he should check on Mordred before he left. It might put his mind at ease when he walked out the front door.

The nursery door had been left slight ajar before he opened it wider to enter the room. He was thankful for the dragon nightlight which was gently illuminating the room. Arthur slowly walked toward the crib with the sleeping young man inside. It was a beautiful sight to take in as he watched the boy’s chest slowly rise and fall. It seemed so long ago that the nursery had been empty and incomplete. It amazed him to finally have what Merlin and he had been aching for.

He was just about to turn around and leave when he felt eyes upon him. Arthur looked toward the young man’s face and found Mordred sleepily staring up at him. The one thing that registered in his brain was how much trouble he was in. For Arthur knew Merlin was going to destroy him if he couldn’t get the young man back to sleep.

“Arthur?”He heard the young man say as he was trying to think of what his next step was.

“Daddy just wanted to see if you were okay before he went to work.” said Arthur wondering where the boy’s pacifier had gone.

“I’m late for work?”Asked Mordred who quickly sat up. “Morgause is going to fire me.”

“No love, Daddy has to go to work.” Said Arthur as he found a pacifier on top of the dresser and handed it the young man. “You are going back to bed.”

Arthur took a page from Merlin’s book and ran his fingers though the young man’s hair for a few minutes. He had hoped that the boy would start getting sleepy again and lay back down. Unfortunately for him, Mordred just held onto the pacifier and gave him an inquisitive look.

“No more work for me?” the young man asked him quietly.

“For the time being.” Said Arthur sighing as he undid the latches on the side of the crib for he knew the boy wasn’t going to go back to sleep. “Maybe when things settle, we can discuss you getting a job.”

“But where am I going to get the money to pay you back for the food, clothes, and such?” Questioned Mordred as Arthur went to grab the red card off the dresser and hand it to the young man.

“Littles have no need to agonize about adult things like money.” Said Arthur as he sat down on the bed next to Mordred while using a remote that had been on the dresser to bring up the lights. “If you had gotten adopted at the center you were planning to go to. Did you think you would pay your caretakers money to allow you to keep living with them?”

Arthur could see the boy better now and watched Mordred think about what he said as he put an arm around the young man’s shoulder. He was wondering if he could cancel the meeting with the new client. He felt Mordred move and watched as the boy stood up and was walking to the changing table.

“I don’t think so.” Said the young man who placed the card and pacifier onto the table. “I just thought Merlin and you might want to be reimbursed.”

“Are you planning on leaving?” Asked Arthur who figured perhaps the young man might want out after all.

“What?” Said Mordred while the young man turning around to face him. “I didn’t mean it like that. It just everything that Merlin or you have given me seems quite expensive. The bedding and clothes are really soft and there has to be a ton of binkies in this house because I don’t think I have the same one twice."

“Okay love, I get it.” Arthur said as he could see that the boy looked on the verge of panicking.

“I can stay right?” Questioned the boy moving back toward Arthur.

“Do you think Merlin and I would go through all this work, if we didn’t want you to be here?” Asked Arthur as he stood up to hug the young man.

“No!” said the young man into his shirt. “But there's other littles that you could have picked.”

“You’re thinking too much love.” Said Arthur as he ran his fingers through the boy’s hair. “Don’t worry about what things cost, just enjoy everything. That would be pay back enough for Merlin and me.”

“To see me happy is worth its weight in gold?” Question Mordred looking up at him.

“Yes love.” Said Arthur placing a kiss on the boy’s forehead. “And if you ever think we'd rather have another little, remember to look around this room.”

“Okay, sorry.” Said the young man hugging Arthur back.

“There is nothing to be sorry for Mordred. You had concerns and needed answers.” Said Arthur feeling the backside of the sleeper where the boy’s diapered area was and found that the diaper was damp. “Should probably change you?”

“Yes, Please.” Said Mordred looking up at him with pleading eyes.

“You weren’t going to go back to sleep were you?” Asked Arthur as he walked toward the changing table with Mordred.

“No, it’s kind of hard to with being wet and all. Music might have worked better than the fingers in hair thing, just to let you know.” The young man said climbing the stair to sit onto the table.

“You cheeky brat.” Said Arthur with a grin as he was glad to see Mordred hasn’t lost himself completely in this process.

“Do I have to say gingersnaps to go back to yellow card mode?” Question Mordred as he lay down onto the changing table.

“You just did but if you think it would help that's fine.” Said Arthur who was undoing the zipper on the young man’s sleeper.

“Oh but Merlin took my pajamas off when I was standing up yesterday.” Said Mordred looking at him confusedly.

“I’m not planning on taking off your pajamas. “ Said Arthur as he removed the bottom half of the sleeper off Mordred and pushed it up. “I’m going to change you out of this diaper into another diaper, then we are going to have breakfast and after that you are going back to sleep.”

“But I'd rather have a pull-up, shirt, and sweatpants.” Said Mordred nervously playing with the pacifier.

“Rule #5, love.” Said Arthur as he grabbed the pacifier from the young man.

“Gingersnaps.” Said Mordred before opening his mouth with caution to accept the pacifier being slipped in.

Arthur gave Mordred a few moments of sucking on the pacifier before he undid the tabs on the diapers. He saw the young man’s head turn to the side and then turn back to him with a sad face. Arthur looked over at what the boy had been looking at; Shadow was staring over at them from the crib.

“You will stay right there. Do not move." Said Arthur to the young man and waited for a nod before moving toward the crib to grab the stuffed dog.

Arthur handed Shadow to Mordred and got back to the task at hand. He hoped Mordred didn’t sense his nervousness. For Merlin had been correct, he was by no means a master at changing diapers. However he had promised the dark haired man back when they were just thinking about getting a little of their own, that he would be more involved than he had been with Lance.

He felt a sigh of relief leave him once he had finished changing the young man. There had been no tears spilled and the new diaper was actually sitting correctly on the boy’s body. Arthur made quick work of getting Mordred’s legs back into the sleeper and the pajamas zipped up. He had to grab new socks for the young man to wear as it would be faster than trying to find last night’s.

Arthur helped the young man down off the table and allowed for Shadow to be tucked into bed. He guided Mordred quickly and quietly through the house to the kitchen. Arthur knew there was no way he could make the young man a warm breakfast like Merlin had done for the past two days. The fire alarm would wake Merlin and charred food never tasted very well on a Monday morning.

He opened the cabinet where the cereal was kept and browsed through the boxes to see if there was anything the boy might like. He grabbed two boxes and placed them on the kitchen table for Mordred to decide. Arthur opened the fridge to fill a green sippy cup with orange juice and couldn’t help but smile. He did a happy dance on the inside at seeing a Pyrex container filled with Saturday’s macaroni and cheese. His co-workers were going to be so jealous of his lunch today.

He placed the cup next to Mordred who had sat down at the kitchen table in the usual seat that the boy always seemed to pick. There he saw the young man looking between the cereal choice of Honey Nut Cheerios or KiX. Arthur wanted to kick himself, for he had given Mordred only two options.

Merlin and he had learned that the young man did not do well with picking between two items. The problem had occurred yesterday at lunch when Merlin had offer the option of strawberry or grape jelly when peanut butter sandwiches were being made. It seemed that Mordred was afraid to pick for fear of making the wrong decision. Not that it would matter which option the boy picked, it was usually done to figure out what the young man’s preference would be.

After preparing a cup of coffee and still no decision made, Arthur grabbed the KiX box. The box had already been open unlike the closed cheerios box and he tried a few to make sure the cereal hadn’t gone stale. Once he deemed them to be edible, two bowls were filled and placed on the table. Arthur returned to the fridge to get the milk to add to the cereal. He came back to the table and was surprised to find Mordred already eating the KiX out of the designated green bowl.

It was not uncommon for a little to eat with their hands and Arthur had seen Lance do the same thing several times, just not with cereal during breakfast. He held up the milk to show the young man and got a shake of the head. So there was something that Morgause didn’t know about Mordred. He would have to tell Merlin and see if it was a regular occasion.

Arthur poured milk into a blue sippy cup out of curiosity when the green cup had been drained. He watched as the young man took a drink while he was putting together his lunch and traveling mug for work. He would have to note that cold milk wasn’t the issue for Mordred; perhaps the boy had a dislike for soggy cereal.

He sent the young man to the living room to watch cartoons while he went about cleaning up from breakfast. It wouldn’t be up to Merlin’s standards of clean but would be better than leaving the dirty dishes on the table for the dark haired man to find. He looked at his phone and realized he would not be getting in to work earlier.

Arthur sat on the couch next to Mordred and allowed the boy to snuggle up to him. He figured out that he could stay for an half an hour more and still be able to get to work on time. Arthur would need to talk to Leon at work today. He knew his brother-in-law and co-worker might be able to help him. The curly haired man was able to get to the office before everyone else and he had Morgana whom was a little as well to deal with in the morning. For Arthur had no idea on how he was going to mange to get to work when he felt content where he was with Mordred’s head on his shoulder.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Merlin was woken up by the alarm on his phone which he fumbled for on the nightstand near him to turn off. He looked at the time and saw 9:15 a.m. staring back at him. This meant he had missed Arthur since the blond haired man would be at the office for over an hour already. If that was the case then why was there a foot that he knew was not his own on top of his leg at the moment.

Merlin slowly turned around to come face to face with a sleeping Mordred. Merlin rubbed his eyes before looking again to make sure his mind was not playing tricks on him. The young man had been in the nursery the last time he check so how had the boy gotten into the master bedroom. He wondered if the young man had climbed out of the crib. There would have to be a rule against it if the boy had done the deed.

He heard his phone chirp a few times and he sat up slowly as not to wake the young man. He looked at the phone’s screen to find a lengthy message from his husband. Arthur had gone into detail on how Mordred had woken up, their chat, breakfast and cuddle time on the couch. So it was the blond hair man who was responsible for Mordred being in bed with him.

After sending a reply message back to his husband with praise, Merlin wondered if he could get a shower in and maybe even dressed before the young man woke up. His phone chirped again and he took it with him to the master bathroom to keep the noise from disturbing Mordred. He had been amazed with how well Arthur had handled the boy while he had been asleep. It was good for them to have bonding time without him.

However he was shocked to read the next message that came from Arthur. Merlin had to reread the text several times for his brain to take in the words on the phone. Arthur Pendragon changing a used diaper was not something he had thought would ever be possible when it came to the young man sleeping in their bed. He sends as many smiley faces as he could find on his phone to show his husband how proud he was of the blond haired man because words were not going to be enough. It warmed his heart to see that Arthur had forgone pride and reputation to put Mordred’s need first.

With that text message, Merlin felt better for letting the young man stay asleep in the bedroom. He knew the boy would be fine while he took a quick shower. Luckily for him, Arthur had grabbed some of his clothes and placed them inside the bathroom already. Mostly like the blond haired man had an idea of how things would be when Merlin woke up if the text messages coming right after his alarm were anything to go by.

 

Merlin was drying his hair with a towel when he walked back into the master bedroom. He found Mordred just waking up from his mini snooze as the young man’s bright blue eyes were slightly opened. The boy sat up and seemed a little lost on where he was and Merlin knew it had to do with the fact that they hadn’t shown the young man the master bedroom.

“Good Morning, Sweetheart. Did you have a nice lie-down on Daddy’s and Papa’s bed?” Said Merlin moving into the boy’s eyesight.

“Fell asleep watching cartoons.” Said the young man looking sheepishly at him.

“Its okay honey, your body needed some more rest.” Said Merlin who sat on the bed next to the young man. “I’m sure Daddy had a feeling you would since he kept you in jammies.”

“But we were downstairs, how did I get here?” Mordred questioned him with a puzzled look.

“Daddy must have carried you up here before he went to work.” Said Merlin giving the young man a sideways hug. “He told Papa all about his little elf’s adventure this morning.”

Merlin watched the brown haired man blush. He kissed Mordred’s forehead for the boy was just too adorable sometimes. He felt magnificent when he became aware of the young man’s arms around him, for Mordred had only hugged Arthur before this. Merlin knew he could stay in this moment all morning but he heard his phone chipping. It was from Arthur with a reminder to eat breakfast since he sometimes got too caught up in other things to remember.

“Should we get you ready for the day?” Asked Merlin who looked over at the boy who had moved away from him while he had checked his phone.

The young man nodded bashfully at him and Merlin could see the tears forming in the boy’s eyes. He had a good idea on why Mordred was distressed. A cup of orange juice and milk back to back in such a short time frame and then falling asleep could only equal one thing.

“It’s okay Sweetheart.” Said Merlin who watched the young man climb out of the bed. “Papa's not upset with you, remember what I said yesterday.”

He saw the boy nod before the young man grabbed the pacifier that had been on Arthur’s nightstand. Merlin decided to leave it at that as he got off the bed and figured he would make the bed later. He couldn’t be sure but he figured there had to be a pair of socks somewhere in the bedding. For Arthur had texted him that there had been a set on the young man’s feet when the blond haired man had taken the boy into their room.

He waited for Mordred to cross the room before heading toward the nursery. He grinned when he saw the young man go over to the crib and grab Shadow the stuffed dog. It had been a tossup between Shadow and a stuffed owl, two out of the three things they knew Mordred would like. Luckily for them the boy had given a dog name two weeks prior to help them decide to go with the stuffed dog. Merlin would have to ask Arthur if they had gotten a second one for back up. For he could already tell the young man would be completely devastated if anything happened to the first.

 

Merlin was placing slippers onto the boy’s socked feet when his cell phone started playing _Beethoven’s Fifth symphony_. The music signified that it was someone calling and he figured it was from Arthur. He knew he could just ignore it and let it go to voice mail. The blond haired man was calling to see if he had eaten yet.

However when the house phone started ringing, Merlin knew someone was desperately trying to reach him. Only a hand full of people knew that number and most of them were family and friends. The one reason they had a landline was due to Merlin’s uncle Gaius and the older man’s dislike of new technology. He quickly went to the downstairs hallway to grab the phone before it went to the answering machine.

He found Percival on the other side, basically begging him to watch Gwaine for the day. It seemed the other man needed to get important work done for a client and with Gwaine in little mode, it was sitting dormant. All their other friends were unavailable due to scheduled appointments or other such things. Merlin looked over at Mordred who had followed him downstairs and was sitting on the bottom step.

Merlin had hoped to give the young man a quiet day to get use to the routine of weekdays but how could he refuse Percy. The moment Arthur and he had told his friends about the possibility of a little in their home, Percival had gone and made them a design of the crib. All the furniture in the nursery had been crafted by the other couple. Gwaine in adult mode was talented with figuring what the coloring of furniture should be; everything had been done in the same beautiful dark cherry stain. All of it had been done by the long haired man weeks ago.

Trying to think of a way to make it up to the young man near him, Merlin told Percival that he would watch Gwaine. Part of him had thought that it might be a good idea to have another little around. Someone to show Mordred that the journey the boy was embarking unto was going down the right path, much better than Arthur or he could.

“Don’t worry honey.” Said Merlin after he got off the phone with Percy and saw the way Mordred was looking at him. “We’re going to have a fun day with cousin Gwaine.”

The young man nodded at him before coming close for a hug. Merlin was glad to see the boy reaching out when comfort was needed. While rubbing Mordred’s back, he silently prayed that the day went well. The last thing he wanted to do was make the young man uncomfortable about this lifestyle which Mordred was just starting to embrace.


	6. The Strength came to play - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gwaine has arrived at the Pendragon household. He got to make sure this newbie is not like the perfect center littles that he is use to deal with. Mordred going to learn some interesting lessons today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Everyone!!! Thank you for all the comments, kudos, and bookmark. Everyone gets a virtual hug for being awesome! Second part is here finally!!! Hope it was worth the wait. Please let me know if there are any errors or missing Tags. Thank again and Enjoy!
> 
> P.S. This has been beta by the awesome littlewebby!

Still April 25th

Gwaine had not meant to get kicked out of another daycare center; he just couldn’t stand all the robots. He liked to refer to the littles who had been brainwashed by centers as robots. The too perfect ones who made anyone who was a true little like himself look bad. Plus he had been interested in meeting this new little of the group that Uncle Arthur and Uncle Merlin had taken in. Gwaine knew all the others would be welcoming to the newest member. He however needed to know if this kid was worth the people he loved like a second family's time.

He was a bit surprised to see that Arthur’s red Ford Mustang was not there when his Papa pulled into the driveway. He had thought with the new addition to the family, the blond haired man would have taken time off. Of course, he had to remind himself that not everyone was their own bosses like him and his husband.

He decided that the kid had passed test number one when Merlin opened the front door to let Percival and him into the house. Gwaine could see the young man was nervously hiding behind his uncle unlike a robot who would be happy and excited to meet someone new. If he was not mistaken, he thought he saw the kid turning red when presented in from of them during the making of introductions.

“We were just sitting down for breakfast. Would you like anything?” asked Merlin who Gwaine could see had taken the kid’s hand and given it a squeeze.

“Coffee if you don’t mind. I just picked Gwaine up from daycare” he heard his papa say as they all were walking toward the kitchen area.

Gwaine smirked for the kid had passed test number two. The young man gave him an impolite face when he stole an apple slice off the animal plate the boy was eating from. Robots always liked to share and would have moved the plate toward him with the implication that it was okay to take another.

He wondered what kind of a person just ate fruit for breakfast but heard Uncle Merlin telling his papa that Mordred had already eaten with Arthur earlier. Then Gwaine tuned them out as he was not really in the mood to hear what his papa was telling his uncle about what had happened at daycare. The boy in front of him was far more interesting anyways.

The kid seemed to have a cuteness factor which could easily make anyone gush over. He noticed that the boy would quickly glance at him before grabbing another apple slice and turn toward the adults. Gwaine was surprised when the young man picked up the pacifier off the table and left him a few apple slices. Not even the robots would have done that, they just ate whatever was on their plate if Gwaine didn’t steal again.

He figured the boy was alright, still had some tests to pass but would get his support. At least with him, the kid would learn how to live and enjoy this life. Unlike with a Robot who would just bore about anyone to death.

“Papa, I want to give Mordred his gift!” said Gwaine interrupting the adult’s conversation.

“Gwaine, what has Papa told you about disrupting people when they are talking.” Said his Papa before the man finished the cooling cup of coffee.

“But you were about ready to leave” said Gwaine as he bite into an apple slice.

Gwaine knew the other man too well for Percival to reply back. He had seen the way his Papa was moving the chair back inch by inch. The man would have told him to be good and give him a kiss on the crown of his head. Then his Papa would be out of the driveway and back to work without a thought of the present they had gotten the kid.

Gwaine was unsure if the kid was going to pass this test. Most people in general didn’t look at a brightly colored bag as if it was a bomb about to go off in their face. The kid had tried handing it off to Uncle Merlin who had bent down to help the young man open the gift. It was even a surprise when the tissue paper had been taken out of the bag by Uncle Merlin and still the boy looked at the item with fear. As if touching it was going to cause a horrible reaction to occur.

“Oh isn’t this great, Mordred?” he heard Uncle Merlin say to the young man as the dark haired man grabbed the item from the bag to show to boy. “Cousin Gwaine and Uncle Percy got you a stuffed dragon!”

The kid looked at Merlin inquisitively and then back at what the dark haired man was holding. Uncle Merlin was making the dragon fly and the young man seemed mesmerized by watching the wings go up and down. It all went downhill when the dark haired man had the dragon kiss the boy on the cheek. He could see the tears start before the kid crashed into his uncle’s side to cry into the older man’s shirt.

“His name is Stormy!” said Gwaine trying to take everyone attention away from upset boy.

“Gwaine, what did Papa say about the name.” said his Papa who had turned to him like Gwaine had wanted. “Mordred can decide what he wants to call it.”

“It what the tag says” said the long haired man giving the other man a let’s give them a moment look “besides, a gray dragon with black wings should be called Stormy”

“I’m sure that name is fine.” Said Uncle Merlin who was rubbing the young man’s back.

Gwaine would have to give the kid a partial on this test. Robots were chipper and happy to receive anything and everything. They would show off their newly gifted item in a highly annoying way. The boy hadn’t even held the stuffed dragon still in Uncle Merlin’s other hand.

“If he doesn’t like it, we can return it.”Gwaine heard his papa say in a concerned manner to Uncle Merlin “The receipt should be in the bag.”

“I think it was just a shock to him to receive such a wonderful gift” said the dark haired man trying to protect the young man’s actions “Just some happy tears, right Honey”

The kid nodded before facing him and his papa with red rimmed puffy eyes while hiccupping. Gwaine could see in the boy’s eyes that there had been a harsh world in the kid’s past. For a stuffed dragon that had to be no more than twenty bucks shouldn’t have caused such an emotional response in a normal setting.

“Well if you are sure.” Said his Papa who seemed to decide it was time to head out as the man came over to Gwaine and kiss the long haired man’s head “Be good for Uncle Merlin, Gwaine.”

“When am I not good?” questioned Gwaine in a cheeky way as he hugged the other man.

His Papa just shook his head at him before returning the hug. He watched as the other man moved toward Merlin and the kid. It seemed the boy really did like the dragon as it was now being clutched by the young man in a tight grip.

“It was nice meeting you Mordred.” He heard his Papa say to the kid as he was walking to the toy box that he had spotted earlier in the room.

He knew the kid must have nodded as he hadn’t heard a word out of the boy’s mouth yet. Maybe another test passed since it was better than the horrible robots. All the stupid baby nonsense that they spoke could drive anyone up the wall.

“We’ll be fine.” Said Uncle Merlin to his Papa as Gwaine turned around “Just hope you can get some work done.”

“Should be able to finish by five” Said the other man heading toward the door.

Gwaine was quite happy to see that the kid’s toy chest actually had some great toys within. Unlike Cousin Lance who had baby things like stacking rings and boring soft blocks. Saturday had been the biggest snooze fest in which he had ever been to. He grabbed the box labeled toy cars and walked over to Uncle Merlin and the kid who were sitting on the couch.

“Do you think Mor is feeling better to play cars with me?” asked Gwaine holding up the box toward his uncle

“What do you think, Sweetheart?” said the dark haired man turning to the kid.

“Still no cop car” said Mordred who had been looking at Gwaine before reverting to stare at the carpeted floor.

Gwaine was ecstatic to hear the young man speak, they could have a conversation later. Of course he didn’t quite understand why a police car was needed to play with the set of cars in the box. However that got his brain working, for he liked solving problems.

“We can use this one “said Gwaine as he grabbed an all black car after digging though the box. “It’s an unmarked police car”

“Ah, well done Gwaine” said Uncle Merlin who had gently pushed the kid toward him to play.  
Gwaine was really enjoying his time playing with Mordred. The kid had a great imagination which could be altered if Gwaine decide to change the storyline suddenly. Therefore test number five had been passed. Since robots only ever moved the cars with no purpose and it would be a crime if car sounds were made.

 

He was about to ask if the kid wanted to do something else when he realized the boy had gotten up. The young man was whispering something to his uncle who had been sitting on the couch with a drawing pad and artist pencils set. Most likely the dark haired man had been working on a company logo or design.

Gwaine watched them head for the hallway and shrugged as he went back to playing. The two cars in his hands were going to have a drag race and the black “police” car was going to go after them. Then the cars were going to crash into each other causing the fire truck and ambulance to come, those had been the ones the kid had been playing with.

When the kid came back to sit down next to Gwaine, the long haired man saw a new addition to the boy’s shirt. A large dragon sticker was placed on Mordred’s green and black striped shirt. He wondered how the kid had gotten a sticker because he wanted one as well.

“Gwaine, do you need to go potty?” he heard his uncle who was standing close to him.

Gwaine sat thinking for a second; there was definitely a good amount in the tank. Plus he had promised his Papa that he was going to try really hard to make it to the bathroom today. It was a constant struggle for him since he had decided to be re-trained months ago after two years in diapers. He nodded and decided to follow Merlin since a sticker had definitely sweetened the offer.

He returned to the living room plus one sticker and pants-less. Gwaine had been wanting the pants off since he had arrived but decided against it until now. He had noticed the kid was wearing black sweatpants when entering the house. The long haired man knew it would just have made things more uncomfortable at that time. However he was used to being without pants, the daycare center was a pants free place and he usually never wore them at home.

The kid's eyes had gone wide at seeing him with only his orange shirt and pull-up but Gwaine just smiled bigger and sat back down. He had never been one to be bashful about the way he chooses to live. Maybe he could get the young man to realize how wonderful this kind of freedom gave a person.

“I’m showing you mine, you should let me see yours” said Gwaine pointing to his blue pull-up with a moon and stars to the kid hoping to get a conversation going.

The boy paled and quickly shook his short brown haired head at him.

“But I heard the ones you wear are really cool. Mine are the everyday run of the mill kind” said Gwaine as he could see he got the kid's attention away from the toy cars.

“What do you mean?” Mordred asked him curiously

“You see your Papa making lunch in the kitchen” said Gwaine pointing toward Merlin.

“Yeah, what about Merlin?”Questioned the boy who had turned to look at Uncle Merlin and then back at him.

“Well, He did the sketches for the pull-ups that you’re wearing. The company who made them was so impressed; they have him on retainer to design for other customer’s now.” Said Gwaine as he grabbed a few of the toy cars to place back into the small box they had come from.

“Wait a minute, are you saying these things were made just for me?” Questioned Mordred who he could tell was puzzled by the new information “I thought they got them at a store.”

“Have you been half asleep when you go into that nursery upstairs?” asked Gwaine while standing up to find any cars that might have been missed “They sought to make sure you knew how much they wanted you in their live. So they got things that were extraordinary to show you that they cared.”

“No one has ever wanted me before. “ Said the boy who picked up the stuffed dragon which had been on the floor next to the young man “Do you think I’m doing okay? I don’t appear to be disappointing them?”

“You worried that Arthur and Merlin will unwant you?” question Gwaine while putting the box back inside the toy chest.

He grabbed some mega blocks to play with and figured the boy had nodded. When he looked over at the kid, Gwaine could tell the boy was worried about not being good enough for the couple. He hoped Mordred hadn’t sensed that from him because since he had gotten to know the young man, he came to quite like the kid.

“You have nothing to be anxious about; you’re doing well for someone who just started.” Said Gwaine sitting back down with the box of mega blocks “Beside I doubt there could be anything you could do to cause Arthur and Merlin to wash their hands and be done.”

“What makes you so sure?” said the young man nervously reaching out to take some blocks.

“Just trust me” Said the long haired man as he started working on building a tower. “I know for a fact they bought all those toys in that crest just for you. Most anything here for a little boy is new, Lance took his stuff.”

“Oh, I thought some were Lance’s” said the kid who seemed to have lost the huge weight holding the boy down.

“Nope, Lance took everything, even the movies. I think the only general family kinds of movies left were a few of Uncle Merlin’s and that’s mainly stuff like _The Nightmare before Christmas_ ” said Gwaine who decided to knock down his tower and send the blocks flying.

“What this about _The Nightmare before Christmas_?” he heard Merlin say who was coming from the kitchen, most likely to tell them lunch was ready.

“Was thinking we could watch it, Uncle Merlin” said Gwaine sweetly to the dark haired man “Maybe after lunch?”

“Sounds good to me but it will have to wait until after nap time” said Uncle Merlin who was picking up the blocks that had been thrown about. “What you do think, Honey?”

Gwaine watched the young man nod and place the stuffed dragon on the couch. He wanted to chuckle at the boy, for how could Mordred think about not being acceptable when the kid’s actions were so charming. He was going to have to show the boy that being here with Arthur and Merlin was going to be the best decision the young man ever made.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mordred felt so much better after talking to Gwaine. He knew he had a similar conversation with Arthur earlier. However it was sometimes important to get an outsider’s opinion. The long haired man had been abrasive of him at the beginning but seemed to be friendlier now.

He still felt awkward for crying over Stormy, the stuffed dragon. He hadn’t meant to get emotional but it had been too much to handle at the moment. Percival and Gwaine who never met him before were kind enough to buy something for him. They had welcomed him into their group of friends without hesitation and that was saying a lot about them. It seemed it wasn’t just Arthur and Merlin that treated him like an actual person. For there had been times in his life where he was made to feel no better than dirt.

Mordred was sitting putting together a train set that he had picked out of the toy chest. He felt Gwaine as the guest should have a say in all the choices of play but Merlin had told them it was his turn to pick. The long haired man beside him had agreed and just sat down on the carpet to wait for his decision.

From what they were forming, a big figure eight was being made. Gwaine had come up with the idea and was currently working on connecting the curved sections. Mordred was not sure if there were enough pieces to complete the design.

Grabbing another straight piece from the container, Mordred heard a weird sound. He looked around the room and found Merlin on the couch typing on a laptop, most likely sending out e-mails and tweaking designs. He turned to Gwaine who was sitting with his legs in a v formation. He couldn’t help but blush when he noticed that the stars on the long haired man’s pull-up were going away.

He tried to look anywhere else but was somewhat fascinated with what was happening. He hadn’t quite understood what Merlin had meant when the dark haired man had explained that part of his pull-ups would fade away. With evidence being shown thanks to Gwaine, he had figured out what Merlin had been talking about.

It seemed Gwaine realized he was staring and looked down as well. The long haired man shrugged at him before laying down pieces that still need to be connected. Mordred was a bit confused because he thought the long haired man would be upset by what had occurred.

“Didn’t realize the tank was full” said Gwaine grinned toward him “But it feels so great now.”

Mordred was baffled by the long haired man’s statement. How emptying one’s bladder in padded underwear could be considered a good thing was beyond him. He loathed the fact that his body betrayed him each and every night, so why was Gwaine okay with it happening in the day time.

Then there was the fact of having to tell Merlin. Mordred shuddered at the mere thought of what the dark haired man might do to Gwaine. Screaming, hitting, and even swearing at the long haired man were all choices that Mordred could think of. He had experienced some of those options himself and knew from firsthand how degrading those made one feel afterwards.

He placed the pacifier attached to his shirt into his mouth and took a few sucks to get the rhythm. He was going to need the soothing action as he watched Gwaine get up and head over to where Merlin was sitting. Mordred was taken back when Merlin had calmly got up, grabbed a bag that had to be Gwaine’s, and walked with the long haired man to the hallway.

It took him by surprise when they came back into the living room laughing. Gwaine was all smiles and no trace of tears which confused the young man. Mordred felt lost in this strange realm of kind people. Even with what Gwaine had done, there had been no sight of there being a dark version of Merlin.

He watched as Gwaine came back to sit next to him as if nothing had even happened. Gwaine just went right back to what the long haired man had been originally working on. He felt even more confused when Gwaine winked at him. He could only shake his head as he went back to connecting the straight pieces. For he realized at that moment, the long haired man had done all that on purpose for some bizarre reason. Mordred told himself he would figure it out eventually like most things within this odd world.

Mordred wondered if there was ever an angry Merlin. For right now, he had no understanding of how the dark haired man could be so relax and at ease. Gwaine was in the middle of the room throwing what could only be described as a temper tantrum. Percival had called with what should have been good news, be there in five minutes.

Gwaine had asked Merlin right before the call if they could watch a movie. It seemed the long haired man was not happy with the decision that came after. There would be no time for a movie, maybe a short film instead had been Merlin’s answer. Mordred had thought the idea was a good compromise and a great solution to the time crunch. However he watched in horror as Gwaine dropped to the carpeted floor to kick, scream, and throw a toy train.

The long haired man was still at it except for the throwing part as Merlin had quickly picked up all the toy trains and their tracks with his help. Mordred was sitting on the couch clutching the stuffed dragon and shaking as he sat next to Merlin. The dark haired man was trying to calm him down by showing him something on the lap top that had been a list of e-mails before.

Headphones appeared out of nowhere and were placed on his ears to block the noise from Gwaine. He could feel the anxiety melting away when he heard classical music start flowing into his ears instead of the loud screams. The name March of the Toreadors in bold letters on the screen indicated to him what song was being played. He looked over to Merlin who smiled at him and stared rubbing his back. He relaxed into the dark haired man to cuddle.

Mordred had closed his eyes to imagine a story to go with the music; it was what he had been doing to fall asleep during nap and bed times. However just before he could slip into dreamland, he felt his pillow move. He opened one eye to see where Merlin was going and found the dark haired man entering the kitchen.

He looked over and found that Gwaine was sitting on the floor; it seemed the long haired man had run out of steam. Merlin came back into the room with a timer and was saying something to Gwaine. Unfortunately for him the music was drowning out the conversation. Mordred felt out of the loop when Gwaine went to sit in the corner and Merlin started the timer.

“Hey there, Sweetheart” he heard Merlin say to him as the headphones were taken off. “Is everything okay?”

Mordred nodded as the dark haired man placed the timer on the coffee table and came back to sitting with him on the couch. He was trying to think of what to ask but it seemed to be on the tip of his tongue. He gave Merlin a concerned look before turning to where Gwaine was.

“Gwaine is in timeout” said Merlin to him after figuring out what he was worried about. “He needs to think over what he did wrong and what he could have done instead of what he did”

“Punishment?” asked Mordred as he was still a bit lost on what to say.

“Yes, that is his punishment for making a bad choice.” Said Merlin running fingers though his hair.

“Spanking?” asked Mordred wondering if there was a rule for that as well.

“Oh no, we don’t believe in striking kinds of punishment. Just time out or maybe writing lines” Said Merlin kissing his forehead as if to take away his fear.

For Mordred had been scared about what would happen if he found himself in the wrong here. Again Merlin had done the opposite of what he was use to. There had been no yelling at Gwaine while or after the tantrum. There would be no hitting as well which Mordred had thought was a common punishment.

Merlin ignoring the long haired man had been impressive to Mordred. Of course he might have helped since he needed the dark haired man at that time. However the fact that Merlin hadn’t taken the bait and remained cool as a cucumber showed him that there was no dark side to the man. Merlin was in all honesty a genuinely loving and caring person.

Mordred almost jumped when the door bell rang for it had been so quiet in the house. He debated if following Merlin to the door was a good thing or not. Mordred decide to stay on the couch with Stormy while listening to the timer tick down. He had been hoping for Arthur to have been at the door instead of Percival for he missed the blond haired man’s presence. Of course he knew he was being silly since Arthur would have a key to get in and not have to knock or ring the bell.

“How’s it going Mordred” said Percival to him while the tall man sat down next to him on the other side of the couch and rubbed his head “You and Stormy friends now?”

Mordred nodded at the tall man before snuggling up to Merlin who had returned to the couch. The dark haired man had to tell Percival all about their day and by the end of it, the reason for why Gwaine was in the corner. The other man had not interrupted or shown any anger toward the long haired man after the events of the day had been revisited. Mordred wondered if he had ended up in an upside down reality.

Then they all waited for the timer to hit zero and what a relief it was when it finally went off. Mordred watched Gwaine stand up and go not to Merlin but Percival. There had been no hugs or kisses and he could tell the tall man was disappointed in Gwaine.

Gwaine had to explain to Percival what had happened and how watching the short film would have been a better decision or playing a game with him instead. After that the long haired man apologies to Merlin and then to him as well which had been shocking because Gwaine had winked at him. Mordred nodded his head at Gwaine to tell the long haired man that he forgave him. In addition, he had to contemplate if it had all been a rouse.

Mordred was glad when the couple was walking out the door to go to their house. Not that it had been a horrible day; he rather enjoyed having someone who was in this kind of lifestyle to learn from. It was an interesting experience if anything else. For some of his fears had been brought out by Gwaine, only to show him there was nothing to be scared about.

Mordred was thrilled to see Arthur when the blond haired man entered the living room. He scrambled off the couch from his cuddling time with Merlin while they were watching _The Nightmare before Christmas_ to hug the blond haired man. Mordred could sense some confusion in the man but just kept a tight hold.

“I take it that today went well” said Arthur more to Merlin than to him as the blond haired man hugged him back.

“There was some hiccups but overall a good day” he heard Merlin say as the dark haired man moved toward them. “Daddy’s little knight captured a dragon”

Mordred could only giggle at what the dark haired man had said. He realized that Merlin really did have a weird and wonderful imagination. He would have to keep track of how many nicknames the men gave him for it was starting to add up. But that would have to be another day as he felt Merlin's arms around him pulling them into another love fest. This was by far one of biggest reasons on his pro column for signing the consent form.


	7. The paperwork day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for Mordred to sign the end of lease agreement. Is this new lifestyle better than he realized? Will he decided to sign the consent form after all?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!!!. Hope you are all doing well. This chapter has been beta by the talented Littlewebby. So give her rounds of applause for helping me with editing. In addition, I would still like to thank you for the kudos and comments. Have a wonderful time reading and please let me know if there are any tags missing. Enjoy :)

April 30th

Mordred rubbed his eyes and blinked to clear his blurry vision in order to read the clock on top of the dresser. Six thirty-five in the morning in a glowing green registered into his brain. He had just woken from a dream or was it a nightmare, Mordred wasn’t quite sure and trying to remember it just left him feeling empty.

He yawned as he sat up because he knew there would be no going back to sleep for him. He realized that he had been with Arthur and Merlin for over a week. Just last Saturday, he had been serving one of the regular customers at the Queen Witch’s Diner at this exact time.

Mordred smiled as he found the pacifier that he had been searching for. Had it really only been a week and already addicted to binkies were his thoughts as he placed the sought object into his mouth. He just felt lucky that he wasn’t restricted by the item.

He had heard Gwaine mutter something about robots during their play date on Friday and was told by the long haired man about littles from centers. Arthur had, on his request, shown him a video of what life would have been like at a center. It was a documentary by a group of radicals against the harsh treatment of little based programs.

Mordred stood up and brushed his hand over the top of the crib, grateful for it not being a cage or him being tied down. The movie had been eye opening to say the least and the images were still fresh within his memories. He shivered at the thought of that poor person in the video which could have been him. How thankful he was toward Morgause and the couple for saving him from that horrible path.

The door creaked and he turned around to find Merlin opening the door. The dark haired man looked over at him before turning up the lights. Mordred could have sworn that Merlin was happy to see him. How the dark haired man could not be annoyed for being woken up at this ridiculously early hour was beyond him.

He watched as Merlin came over and brought down the side of the crib to let him out. It was a bit surprising when the dark haired man went over to the closet instead of following him to the changing table. For Mordred a routine had already started forming during the few days with the couple. So it felt weird to have a sudden modification to the schedule.

Merlin came over to him with regular clothes and the red card. Mordred seemed a bit confused; he knew that he usually woke up in adult mood before being eased into yellow card mode. Here however it seemed they wanted him to stay in the mood he was currently in. Then it dawned on him as he took the pacifier out of his mouth, today was the day he had to sign the end of lease agreement on his apartment.

In the hallway bathroom, Mordred had watched Merlin turn on the shower for him and adjust the water temperature. Then the dark haired man left him in the room alone to handle things by himself. It felt so strange to do even the simplest task like taking off the sleeper he was wearing which had been done by either Arthur or Merlin for the past several days.

While the spray of the shower felt good on his muscles, he slightly missed the bubbles, rubber ducks, and toy boats. Then there was the fact that shampooing his hair felt so foreign and getting the residue in his right eye by accident might have made him feel worse. No matter how many times he soaped himself, the feeling of clean never seemed to be satisfactory.

His skin and hair still felt damp even with him towel drying twice. Mordred stared at the clothes wearily before reaching for the boring plain black t-shirt. He felt a bit miffed when he found a pull-up on top of a pair of boxer shorts. However he knew Merlin had placed it in the pile of clothing for a reason. He figured that the dark haired man would check to make sure he was wearing it anyways so why start trouble.

Mordred had already learned what happened when he disagreed with Merlin on Thursday. He recalled how he had screamed 'no' at Merlin when the dark haired man had declared nap time while he had been watching cartoons. Even with him yelling 'no' over and over again, the only result had been 20 minutes in time out.

He had rebelled by walking out of the corner several times and learned that it only caused the timer to be reset until he stayed put.

Tired and emotionally run down by the time the buzzer went off, he had apologized to Merlin profoundly and was surprised to be forgiven after all his misdeeds. He was very appreciative that the dark haired man had still snuggled with him in the crib while he drank a cooled bottle of milk that afternoon.

Mordred shook his head at the memory because it only made him long for cuddles which were a big NO right now. He needed to focus on the task at hand at the moment, combing his hair and then brushing his teeth. He felt strangely sad without having anyone in the room with him especially since he'd gotten used to the chatter of the couple.

Walking downstairs to the living room was daunting and uncomfortable. He heard voices as he moved toward the kitchen to find Arthur and Merlin sitting at the table both with a cup of coffee. The couple stopped their conversation upon his arrival and looked over at him.

“It’s going to be okay, bud.” Said Arthur getting up to come nearer to where he was standing.

“Please don’t.” Mordred said to the blond haired man as he knew a hug would be his undoing.

For Mordred felt like this was over even if it wasn’t true. This whole thing could have be a cruel joke played on him. The realization that he might be going back to his apartment to be left there alone had hit him when he had walked back into the nursery earlier and the bedding had been stripped. Not being able to find Shadow or Stormy had made his heart sink into his stomach.

“Tell us what’s wrong?”He heard Merlin ask as he felt tears welling up behind his eyes.

“I couldn’t find them and the bed sheets are gone.” Cried Mordred “I’m coming back right?”

“Of course you are returning home later. Why do you think I put a pull-up with the rest of the clothes.” Merlin said as the dark haired man came to him. “This way on your mini adventure today, you will have a reminder that you are our little boy.”

“Oh, I forgot about that.” said the young man who was blushing while wiping his tears away with his hands.

“I’m sorry for upsetting you, Mordred.” said Merlin who had been rubbing his back “I didn’t think you would go back into the nursery. The sheets are in the washing machine.”

“And if 'them' is referring to Shadow and Stormy. They are sitting on the sofa.” Arthur stated while pointing to couch in the living room.

Mordred whipped his head in that direction and could see that Arthur had been telling the truth. The black stuffed dog and stuffed dragon were in his spot on the couch. He felt so foolish for his troubled and terrible thoughts. He should have remembered that Merlin and Arthur were too kind and caring to play such a malicious trick unlike his overactive imagination.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Arthur was glad to find a parking spot near Mordred’s apartment complex. Merlin would owe him ten bucks when he and Mordred got back. For the dark haired man had claimed that there would be no way he would find parking in this part of the city with his Ford Mustang. For once Mordred had calmed down during breakfast, the young man had explained about not having a good amount of owned items. Arthur decided then that his car could be usable for this hopefully quick trip since he despised driving Merlin’s so-called SUV.

He looked over at the troubled young man and realized the huge injustice that he and Merlin had done to the boy. They should have had made Mordred grab his stuff and sign the end of lease agreement last week.

Unfortunately it had been such an awesome sight to see Mordred in Merlin’s blue Hyundai Tucson last Saturday; all other important details had been forgotten.

The boy did a complicated knock on the apartment door before pulling out a key when there had been no reply back. Once inside the apartment, Arthur realized that the design was similar to his last dorm room at the university that he attended. It explained why Mordred was not concerned about furniture as it must have been already set up before the young man moved in.

Arthur grabbed a black trash bag out of the roll from Merlin’s messenger bag that the dark haired man had forced him to wear as he entered what he figured was the young man’s bedroom. The boy had already started pulling clothes from a dresser onto the bed. Without much consideration, Arthur shoved anything on the bed into the bag. He knew Merlin would be the one going through the stuff later and picking out what was good or not.

The young man moved to the closet to grab a few button ups shirts and some different types of shoes. Arthur had opened the drawer to the nightstand next to the bed out of curiosity and found a small black notebook as well as a phone charger. He knew the phone charger went to Mordred’s older-than-dirt flip phone so he tossed it in the bag. The notebook might be a journal and Arthur looked over at the young man, not wanting to invade on privacy.

“It’s not important.” Said Mordred as the young man took the notebook from him and flipping the pages.

From the quick glances, Arthur figured out there were lists on each page and some had been crossed out. Then a few of the names on the list made sense to him, they were titles of books. Morgause had told them the young man was a book lover and it seemed the lists were for series the boy had read or was hoping to read.

His husband had found a library card in the boy’s workpants while doing the wash last week and it made sense at this moment. Arthur had not seen a television in either the living space or in this room. Therefore the young man must have spent free time at the library reading books and taking them out to read here.

“Do you have any book to return?” He asked Mordred who had moved on to a small desk in the corner and was holding a sketch pad.

The young man froze and Arthur could see the wheels turning. He watched as Mordred put the pad into the bag before closed the door to the room to reveal an unfilled bookshelf. Then the boy moved quickly to another part of the apartment and returned empty handed.

“Nope, Miss Mary must have sent them to the library already.” Said Mordred as the young man reentered the room and reached for something under the bed.

“Who?” Asked Arthur, confused since he had thought the young man’s roommate had been male.

“The landlord, she lives in this building.” Said the boy who blushed while trying to stuff whatever had been under the bed into the black trash bag.

Arthur could only chuckle at the boy actions while he was tying up the bag. For there was really no need for the nighttime protective underwear the young man had tried to shove deep into the bag. Then there was the fact that everything from the bag was going to be removed later so the stuff was going to be seen.

 

After forcing the black bag in the trunk of his Mustang, Arthur was lead by the young man back into the apartment complex to a door on the first floor. He watched Mordred as the boy nervously knocked normally this time on the door. A kind looking middle aged woman opened the door and smiled at them after seeing who it was.

“Mr. Smith-wood, how good of you to come” said the woman sweetly as she moved back to let them in “Do have a seat over there. I finished setting up the paperwork just minutes ago.”

“Thank you ma’am.” Said the young boy who bowed to the woman.

Arthur a bit confused allowed Mordred to enter first into the apartment. He waited until the boy had moved toward a living room type setup section before closing the door since the woman’s apartment was more open than the young man’s had been.

He spotted Mordred sitting on a flower patterned sofa reading what should be the end of lease agreement paperwork. Arthur was heading over toward the young man to read the terms himself when he felt an arm on his shoulder.

“I do hope you don’t mind helping me with getting the tea dearie.” Said the woman who Arthur figured had to be Miss Mary.

He really didn’t want to leave the young man alone. However from the way Miss Mary was looking at him, she had a few things that might be important to tell in private. So he followed her toward the kitchen area and was content that he was still able to see the boy sitting on the sofa.

“I was so happy to hear from his roommate that Mordred had found a place to stay. I have no room available in any of the complexes at this time.” Said Miss Mary while she walked over to where her tea kettle was to check the water level. “You are going to let him stay for a good amount of time, correct?”

“You have nothing to worry about. He will be fine with my husband and I” said Arthur leaning against the counter in a defensive pose and checking on the young man in the corner of the space.

Arthur listened to the woman as she went about finding cups and such. It made sense why the furniture was staying; the apartment complex was a government funded program for youths who had aged out of the system. Mordred had arrived with a group of five other boys. Each of them had been members of the same group home.

She went on to explain how Mordred had seemed to have some bad luck with roommates. The boy’s first apartment had been two buildings down on the fifth floor with room number 23. That roommate liked to flirt with the law and found a way to jail within three months of being out in the real world.

The only good part was that the roommate had a sidekick who was in the group as well. With two gone and two needing new roomies, she placed what she thought would be a good match with Mordred in the building across the street. However his second apartment mate had decided that life was no better out of the system than in and ended it.

She told Arthur that blessedly Mordred had been at work when she had gotten the call about a gunshot being heard and that she never told the boy what had really happened. She had just relocated Mordred to the last group member who recently had his roommate leave for parts unknown. That had been about a year ago and she was thankful to him and his husband for finding a place in their hearts for the young man.

Arthur was still taking in everything that she had told him and was a bit stunned by what she had said at the end. So he just watched her pour tea into a teapot and dropped his stance. He took the tray from her when he saw her tremble and carried it over to the coffee table next to the flower deigned sofa.

“Arthur?” he heard Mordred asked him as he sat down next to the young man.

“Yes, love?” questioned Arthur looking at the boy with new understanding.

“It says I need a witness to sign as well.” Said the boy to him and unintentionally snuggling up to him to show him the paperwork.

Arthur just smiled at the young man and took the paperwork to read himself. He watched as Miss Mary offered tea to Mordred while he was quickly scanning a section on the deposit fee. With the knowledge he had just learned, Arthur was going to work even harder at making the boy feel at home when they got back to the house. At the present, he would sign the paperwork as the witness to the end of the lease agreement and accept a cup of tea.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Merlin had been proud of himself for finding the time to make cookies while doing the laundry and tidying up the house. Arthur and he had decided a few days back that it would be best for him to stay here. The apartment would have sent his compulsion to clean into over drive, even if Mordred was good at keeping things in their place. The roommate side might be a different matter and fighting the need to fix would have driven him insane.

He was taking a batch out of the oven when he heard the roar of Arthur’s car pulling into the driveway. Looking at the clock on the kitchen wall, he realized it had been a bit longer than they both had figured. He was placing the cookies on a cooling mat when he heard the front door being unlocked and Arthur’s call for him.

“In the kitchen, dear.” said Merlin as he placed another batch of cookies into the oven.

He smiled at seeing his husband entering the room. He could tell the blond haired man was glad to be back and the quest had been completed. He playful smacked Arthur’s arm with the spatula he had been using to get cookies off the baking sheet.

“Those are still hot” he said to his husband who had given him a rude look as he placed the spatula in the sink to be washed. “Beside it will ruin your appetite for lunch.”

“What are we having, Mac and Cheese again?” asked Arthur who stole a cookie from another cooling mat which was on the kitchen table.

“What is with you and Mac and Cheese?” question Merlin who was scooping the last bit of dough onto a baking sheet.

“It’s good beside we both know its Mordred’s favorite” said the blond haired man taking a handful of cookies.

“I’m going to have to get you a bigger belt if you keep that up.” Said Merlin jokingly while he put the bowl used to make the cookie dough into the sink.

“It’s not my fault that your cooking is too good” Said Arthur going into the cabinet for a glass. “I’m sure Mordred would agree with me.”

“Where is Mordred?” asked Merlin as he realized the young man hadn’t followed Arthur into the kitchen.

“In the living room, I think he missed his stuffies.” Said Arthur as the blond haired man opened the refrigerator door.

Merlin knew that Arthur was going for milk and shook his head. He should have known better than to have made cookies before lunch and especially if it was on a weekend.

Merlin grabbed the timer off the counter for Arthur would just stare at the thing when it went off instead of removing the tray from the oven and no one needed burned cookies today. He took off his apron and placed it on the hook next to the doorway before entering the living room. His heart broke a little when he found Mordred sitting on the floor clutching the stuffed animals and in tears.

“Mordred, Sweetheart can you tell Papa what's wrong?” said Merlin sitting on the floor next to the young man and placing the timer on the coffee table.

“I’m a curse” cried the boy backing away from him. “I heard her; she wasn’t as soft as she thought she was being.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, honey.” said Merlin pulling the boy towards him even with the young man struggling to keep away.

“Miss Mary, she told Arthur about my past and it’s my entire fault that I can’t stay in one place for too long.”

“I doubt that any of it could be your doing, Mordred.” Said Merlin as he successfully got the boy to move closer and cuddle up to him.

“Papa is right love." Merlin heard his husband say and watch the blond haired man sit down next to them with his glass of milk in hand. “Did you force your first roommate to steal a car and go joy riding?”

“No, but you’re going to get sick of me like all the others and send me away.” said the boy as a new set of tears started falling.

“We would never do that, honey” said Merlin as he swept the boy’s hair away from the forehead to give it a kiss. “We signed the consent contract the day you came here if you need proof.”

“Can I see it?” said the young man looking up at him with pleading eyes.

“Of course, why would we suggest having you look it over if we never let you actually read the paperwork?” Asked his husband who got up from the floor and placed the glass on the coffee table.

He watched the young man shrug at the question before finding interest in the carpet. He watched as his husband headed towards the office’s room. Merlin hugged Mordred while he looked over at the timer to make sure he still had plenty of time left until he would need to move. He debated if it would be okay to make macaroni and cheese for the second time in an eight day span.

“Here you go, love.” He heard his husband say to the young man while handing over the consent form paperwork and a pen.

Merlin gave his husband a concerned look for the blond man had to rush into thinking the boy would actually want to sign it. He would be happy with just making the young man feel better about the situation. He could wait if need be for Mordred to feel comfortable enough to add the needed signature to the paperwork. Merlin saw the boy flip to the last page and sure enough there was their names and the day of April 23rd.

“Why would you sign it without even knowing if I would stay?” Asked the young man looking at him and then at Arthur with a frown.

“Because we knew” Said Merlin as he placed one of the boy’s hands on Arthur chest and the other on his own “From our beating hearts that we were doing the right thing."

“Seriously Merlin, you’re such a girl’s petticoat.” Sniggered his husband who placed a hand onto his knee.

“What does that even stand for?” Asked Merlin figuring out that the blond haired man was trying to steer the conversation away to keep the boy from breaking into more tears.

“I’m pleading the fifth on that one.” said Arthur who gave him a raised eyebrow to see if he would take the bait. “Besides, it's a better name than calling you an idiot.”

“You are such a dollop head.” Said Merlin as he grabbed the timer to check the countdown again.

“And yet I have no idea what that means and you’ve called me that for years.” Said his husband smirking while lightly shoving him in a playful manner.

“Well, if you looked it up in a dictionary, it would say what Arthur Pendragon is.” Said Merlin who was happily continuing with their simple banter for he could tell Mordred was smiling at them.

“Do you think that’s funny?” Asked Arthur to the young man when they both heard the wonderful sound of giggling coming from that direction.

“Sorry, it's just such weird names.” Said Mordred as the young man was looking over at the coffee table.

“Nothing to be sorry about, we like our unique nicknames.” said Merlin who followed the boy’s line of vision to the red card that was on the table.

Merlin could see the boy was trying to read the paperwork and was chewing on the pen cap nervously. Then he noticed the young man fidget and the bouncing of the boy’s right leg. He shook his head for even in adult mood, Mordred seemed to hold out on telling them about the need to pee.

“I’m not sure if you know this.” Said Merlin as he got up to grab the cookies in the oven as the timer was about to go off. “But while we are in red mood, the bathrooms are unlocked.”

Merlin heard his husband chuckle while he was moving toward the kitchen. He didn’t need to look back for he knew the young man had mostly likely sprinted toward the hallway after what he had said. He was glad he had kept the doors open to air out the strong chemical smell after he had cleaned those particular rooms.

One batch done and the last in the oven, Merlin went back into the living room with the timer in hand. He found Arthur and Mordred in their usual spots on the couch going over the paperwork. Stormy and Shadow had been placed on the coffee table and he would have to make sure they went back upstairs with the young man for nap time.

“Wait, why is Morgause’s name in here?” Asked Mordred who looked over at him as he came to sit on his side of the couch.

“If anything happens to us, Morgause is our first option for you to go live with.” Said his husband who put an arm around the boy’s shoulders “You do get a say in the matter as well but she had to be first.”

“Why?” asked the young man inquisitively to the blond haired man.

"It was part of our arrangement with her.” Said Arthur “She had her sights on you as well, told us that she got you if things went estranged.”

“I’m going to have to thank her the next time I see her." Said the boy who smiled at them while turning the page on the paperwork “There a list of others in here too.”

Merlin looked over at what the boy was referring too. They had given several options for Mordred to decide from if heaven forbid they left the earth too soon. Percival and Gwaine were second on the list, followed underneath by Gwen and Lance.

“You put Leon and Morgana on the list?” Questioned Merlin who looked up in disbelieve at his husband when his eyes saw the rest of the names on the paperwork “You really think she would share her daddy.”

“Of course, if you looked at your phone every once and a while” said Arthur who grabbed a phone off the coffee table and was swiping though it. “You would see all the messages she has sent about the photos we have sent the group.”

“Photos?” asked Mordred looking up from the paperwork that the boy had been trying to finish.

“Yes, we have sent some photos to the group.” Said Merlin worried that perhaps they should have asked the young man before putting out images of the boy.

“They were all curious about how things were going.” His husband said who showed the photos on the phone to the young man. “Papa and I were so happy that we kind of wanted to show off as well.”

“That’s Merlin and me from last Saturday.” Said Mordred pointing at the picture on the front of the blond haired man’s homepage when Arthur had accidentally swiped the photo gallery away.

“It is.” Said Merlin looking over at the phone for he hadn’t seen the photo Mordred had just described. “Daddy must have wanted to keep that one for his eyes only.”

“What can I say?” Said Arthur handing the phone to the boy. “It’s a picture of my two favorite people in the whole world.”

Merlin was quite thankful that the young man seemed excited about the photos instead of angry with them. Even at the moment, Mordred had been flipping back and forth through the ones that Arthur had and eagerly talked about each one. He smiled as he wondered about where his phone was since he had different pictures as well.

“Where do I sign?” He heard Mordred ask, bringing him out of his thoughts of cute photos of the boy on his phone.

“Right here, love.” Said Arthur who had taken the consent form from the young man and flipped the paperwork to the last page.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” Questioned Merlin, wanting to make sure the boy understood the seriousness of it all as the blond haired man was handing back the papers.

The boy nodded at him while looking over at his husband who was pointing to the section right under their name. Mordred grabbed the pen that had fallen to the side of the couch and signed the form. After the young man had dated it and handed it to Arthur, Merlin could have sworn he heard the beginning of _Hallelujah by Messiah_ playing. For this moment had been so long in coming for both him and Arthur. Merlin felt like he was over the moon with splendor to see it finally happen in real life.

“So how about that Mac and Cheese?” Asked Arthur who looked over at him with a goofy smirk.

He could only shake his head at his husband. For only Arthur would be thinking more with the stomach than heart. However he couldn’t even be miffed at the blond haired man sitting on the other side of the couch at this occasion.

“If it’s okay with Mordred.” Merlin said as he looking over at the young man with a smile.

The boy nodded at him before reaching over to the coffee table and pulling at the drawer. Merlin watched as Mordred took out the yellow card and handed it over to Arthur. He could only grin at his husband as the boy took the blond haired man’s hand to start their journey toward the nursery upstairs.

Merlin felt the déjà vu as he walked in the living room as the macaroni and cheese was baking. Just like last Saturday, he found Arthur and Mordred on the carpet playing with the toy cars. Of course there were a few differences. Such as the blue pacifier which was in the boy’s mouth and the bright smile in his husband’s eyes.

Merlin sat on the floor in between them and grinned when Mordred handed a blue SUV toy car like the one he drove. He spotted Arthur with an older style mustang toy car unlike the red newer version one in the driveway. He noticed that Mordred had the all black car and the toy tow truck. He laughed when his husband gave him a confused face since the young man seemed to be following the mustang.

“Mordred is trying to pull you over; he’s an unmarked police car.” Merlin said as he pointing to the black car in the boy’s right hand.

“Aw, sh…suger.” Said his husband glancing over at him and who had fortunately caught what was about to be said. “I knew I forgot to do something this week. Daddy’s really sorry about that, love.”

Merlin looked over at the young man who gave a shrug before attaching the toy car that Arthur had been playing with to the tow truck. The boy smiled with the pacifier in between teeth at them before pulling Arthur’s car away. Merlin felt his pockets for his phone for it always seemed to go missing when a photo opportunity was given. Luckily he saw a flash and knew that Arthur had taken one before the boy looked away. For Merlin hoped to savor this moment in time where everything was as it should be.


	8. Past and Present Collide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur and Mordred are cuddling when there a phone call. Who could it be? Will the play date that Merlin has agreed to go well?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everyone
> 
> Hope you are doing well! Sorry for the late post. Last week left me with very little time to write and so I had to delay this chapter. Thank you again for all the kudos and comments. This has been beta by the quick working and wonderful Littlewebby. So hugs and virtual cookies to her. Hope you enjoy this chapter and have a wonderful rest of the weekend!

May 4th

Arthur was quite enjoying the moment as he heard Mordred giggling at the cartoon on the television. It had become routine in the morning during the weekdays for him to have breakfast and cuddle time with the young man. If things went well, a full hour could be spent on the couch before it was time to leave for the harsh environment called work.

The schedule was running great for them in terms of bonding. Arthur had been worried that he would find himself on the outside looking in; similar to how it had been with Lance and Merlin. For there had been favoritism when it came to the caretaker and little relationship in that set-up. Of course, it made sense to him looking back at it in the present.

Lance and Merlin had been best friends and roomies for years before he entered the picture. It was only natural for that same bond of brotherhood to enter into the other form of relationship. There were things that Merlin was familiar with which came into play when dealing with little Lance, history that Arthur had no way of knowing.

Here with Mordred was a different story, as they were both learning and discovering at the same time. There was always something that each of them would pick up on from the young man and share with the other. Like earlier this morning when he found that Mordred was not a fan of fruit in with cereal kind of combo.

He had on a whim placed banana slices into the boy’s bowl of cheerios. Of course, the young man hadn’t said anything about it. However the look on his face had been quite revealing. Arthur figured he should have put them on the side instead of in the bowl and seen how that went first. Something he looked forward to trying with tomorrow’s breakfast.

He had to give the young man credit for being patient with them. For Merlin and he were still tweaking things and figuring out what worked best. In the beginning, he had worried that all they were doing was upsetting the young man. For tears seemed to be a constant fixture running down the boy’s face.

Through books like 'Living with littles for dummies' and 'What to expect with a little' Arthur had come to realize the tears were all part of the experience. Lately the wells had dried up for there had not been a stormy day since the consent form had been signed.

How pleased he felt about the paperwork being completed and sent off to the Department of Registered Littles before the unofficial deadline. Hopeful, Arthur figured an authorized and certified sealed form would arrive in the mail in a few days. For Merlin had already called Uncle Gaius to do a physical on the young man cuddled up to him. Of course it hit him then about what he had been forgetting to get at the Human Resources Department, the adding Family Healthcare forms.

Arthur had been reaching for his phone to add that information in a reminder when it started to ring. He debated with himself if answering it was necessary. Since right now was his time with Mordred and due to the long nature of being apart on work days, any second taken away was gut-wrenching.

This morning, he had been trying to make up for the lost hours from yesterday. It had been a hectic, overwhelming and stressful day dealing with outside auditors who were checking on his department. Every few years, auditors came to review what was going on and how things were handled in the business. All of it was done to insure Pent-King Corporation's credibility as a top rated consulting firm.

Arthur had felt completely drained by the time he got his car into the driveway. It was only when he walked into the house that time pushed him into reality. There he had found Mordred running down the stairs to greet him and already ready for bed in a pair of blue pajamas. Merlin had come following after; a pair of fuzzy socks in hand.

Arthur smiled at the memory for it had been quite heartwarming to know the boy would want to see him even after the extra long day at work. It was something that amazed him still, to have someone beside his husband come to welcome him home. As if he dared think the young man actually missed him when he was gone.

The phone in his hand was still going off and Arthur knew it couldn’t be his work. For whoever was trying to reach him was far more persistent than any co-worker, who would have left a message after the first attempt. He looked at the caller identification and saw that Gwen was the person calling. Arthur cringed for he knew there was no way of ignoring her. Plus if the house phone went off with Merlin still in a deep sleep, the day would go down fast in a torrential downpour of flames.

Arthur regrettably got up to answer his phone and gave the confused half asleep young man an apologetic look. It seemed Gwen had been trying to reach Merlin whose phone was most likely on the 'do not disturb mode'. Worried about the dark haired man, she had been frantic trying to reach him instead.

Once he had reassured her that Merlin was upstairs sleeping the early morning away due to the dark haired man’s new routine, she seemed to sound less panicky. For it was true that Merlin used to wake up before him in the morning and often make sure he got up on time for work. However the addition of Mordred had altered their schedules.

It had actual been for the better that the young man had come into their life. For Merlin and him might have gotten up in the morning together and share a few nanoseconds of time. They actually spent the evenings at home in separate rooms without much as a word spoken to each other and maybe a kiss before bed.

Even without seeing his husband in the morning as of lately, communication was ever flowing throughout the day via text and emoji of hearts and such. A far cry from the days where his cell phone sat idle on his work desk for hours as if it was more of a paperweight than anything else. The conversation might start off about Mordred in some shape or form but it usually ended with exchanges of how the other was doing as well.

Then there were the evening of time together with or without the young man present. For once the nursery lights were dimmed low, Merlin and he would usually end up on the couch snuggling together to relax and enjoy their time with each other. So he went to bed alone as his husband went to work on some design for a couple of hours. It made his heart grow fonder until the dark haired man finally did join him.

He heard his name being repeated several times and remembered he had been on the phone with Gwen before his thoughts had taken him away. He apologized to her as he explained it took two cups of coffee to keep his brain running.

Thankfully, she was kind enough to repeat what had been previously said. Gwen had been hoping to talk to his husband about setting up a play date between Lance and Mordred for today. It seemed that Lance wanted to see his Uncle Merlin as it had been over two weeks since the dark haired man's last visit.

Arthur had no idea what his husband had planned for the day as Merlin tends to be spontaneous with Mordred and explained that to her. In addition, he couldn’t be certain if Mordred was ready yet to leaving the house to venture to an unfamiliar place. Would the young man be able to handle the different type of environment was another concern of his.

Therefore he convinced Gwen that it would be better to talk to his husband. For he wasn’t about to make a promise that might not be kept, as he knew Lance was likely close by and listening to their conversation. He had no desire to have the other man excited about visitors coming to play and then a broken heart if the plan was not possible to happen.

He did understand Gwen's reasoning for calling after hanging up with her. He figured Lance was missing Merlin very much so as the dark haired man had gone over at least once a week for a visit. However he had his own little to consider as well and right now that young man was curled up on the couch. Luckily for him, Mordred had drifted off to sleep by listening to _Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata_ which was still being played on loop by one of Merlin’s old cell phones.

His husband had come up with the idea of letting Mordred use one of the older versions of their phones that were lying around the house. They both knew the young man would have gotten upset about the expensive price if they got the boy a new phone. So in order to get Mordred to give up the old dying flip one, a used but in perfect working order phone was handed to the young man.

Right now the phone was used mostly for music and games as it was in little/kid mode. It was still able to make calls if needed but only certain numbers. Those numbers which included the house phone, his and Merlin’s were in a black coloring. While the others like Gwaine and Percy’s were grey out and not assessable. Of course any time Mordred was in adult mode, unlocking took only the quick typing of the password.

Arthur sighed as he turned off the music and removed the phone from the boy’s outstretched hand. For he knew his back was going to be hurting later when he had to carry the young man up the stairs. However what was a little pain compared to making sure the boy would wake up with Merlin in brighter light. He quickly took a picture of the sleeping young man to add to his ever growing collection because he was going to need something to get him through the long day at work.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mordred could sense Merlin’s excitement as they waited for the door to be answered. Even if he, himself was quite nervous about this event and the fact it had to take place away from home. He placed a small smile on his face ever time the dark haired man asked if he was thrilled about meeting Auntie Gwen and Cousin Lance.

He was taken aback when the door swung opened and a gentleman ran into Merlin almost taking the dark haired man down. The loss of Merlin’s hand holding his was realized almost instantly. For without that reassuring squeeze to keep him grounded, Mordred wanted nothing more than to turn tail.

Luckily for him, a charming looking lady appeared at the door and smiled sweetly at him. Mordred could sense the goodness inside her as he felt himself moving toward the house. It was as if Gwen was beckoning him to come into the warm house with her honest eyes.

“Hello there, Mordred.” Said Gwen as she moved out of the doorframe and allow him access into the hallway. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

Mordred not knowing if he should or could speak just bowed at her. He could hear her giggle at his action but figured making a person laugh was far better than the alternative. She helped him with taking off the light jacket which Merlin had dressed him in before leaving the house. The dark haired man had stated something about the weather being too cool to go out with just a t-shirt.

When Gwen went for his shoes to replace them with slippers, Mordred knew his face was heating up. Velcro strapped shoes were not something he was use to wearing. They made him feel like he was an actual young child who had yet to learn how tied shoes worked.

He was grateful that Gwen had made no comment about them. The slippers she had placed on his socked feet were a bit too big and he would have to make sure to be careful when moving. However he knew better than to complain about such trivial things, so Mordred made sure to smile at her to show his approval.

“You are far more adorable in person that those pictures that your daddies keep sending.” Gwen said while she gave his nose a bop with her index finger.

Mordred chuckled at her display of affection toward him. It was nice to have someone from the couple’s group that liked him right off the bat. Meeting a new person in general was never one of his strengths and he worried about how it would go with meeting the rest of the circle of friends.

Gwen came over and gave him a quick hug as if she had sensed his anxiety. However it was cut short when she had to rush off to answer a shrilling phone. Mordred placed his arms around himself tightly for a sense of comfort. The scary feeling of being alone in the hallway only reminded him that he was Papa-less.

Mordred turned his head toward the still hugging best friends when they entered the house. He shivered as he saw Lance looking over at him, for the man’s dark expression spoke volumes. While he had figured Lance would be happy to see Merlin, he had never thought about how the man would feel about him.

He wondered if all the littles in the group feel such loyalty toward Arthur and Merlin, to make him have to pass their inspection as well before being totally accepted. Mordred knew it had taken Gwaine a bit to get comfortable with the idea of him being the couple’s little. However he could already tell by the stare that he had received, Lance was not going to go down so easily.

Mordred did not like the feeling he was dealing with when he watched the buddies coming toward him. It was more disturbing when Merlin passed by with only a brush of the dark haired man’s fingers through his hair. Unhelpful thoughts entered his mind about the fact that Lance was hogging his papa. Mordred realized what he had been thinking and shook his head. Merlin was not Papa even if he had been unconsciously thinking about the couple in their other names for days now.

The young man could only watch in torment as Merlin sat on the floor to play blocks with the other man in the living room of the house. They were chatting away while stacking colorful squishy blocks one right after the other. He was not pleased about what he was seeing for that should be him with Merlin and not Lance. Mordred walked quickly over and poked Merlin, hoping to get the dark haired man’s attention.

“Hey Honey, do you want to join us?” Asked Merlin who smiled brightly up at him and patting the soft blanketed area nearby.

Mordred try thinking confidently as he sat down onto the plush blanket. His papa…no Merlin he thought had just been overjoyed in seeing Lance, for the dark haired man had still called him by a nickname. Therefore there was proof that he was still Papa’s favorite little boy.

He even sent Lance a smirk when Merlin gave him a kiss on the forehead. Of course that caused Lance to get up and pretend to trip over the blanket. Mordred could only pout as Merlin was attending to a fake crying and invisible injured Lance.

After that drama filled event, the other man told Merlin about having a wet diaper. Mordred was left alone to fume as the buddies got up to go to another room. He tried not to feel like the other man was purposely stealing his papa by building a tall block tower to show Merlin once the best friends had returned. However Lance would “accidentally” knock it over before the dark haired man had a chance to see his masterpiece.

Once everyone was settled to the way things was before, Mordred tried cuddling up to his papa. A way of showing Lance that Merlin really belonged to him. Unfortunately, Gwen had finished with her phone call which caused the dark haired man to join her on the couch. Mordred had wanted to follow but he could hear the happy discussion flowing and sighed.

He looked over at Lance hoping to start a conversation with the other man which might break the ice. Especially since it seemed things were not going well between them. However he noticed that Lance was sucking on a pacifier. Mordred bit his lip because he wanted to do the same but could not.

Yesterday morning, he had awoken to a sharp pain in the far back on the left side of his top teeth. The motion of a binky only made things much worse on the throbbing area. Chewing on the pacifier helped but it had been frowned upon by both Arthur and Merlin. He knew he should tell the couple about the problem but was worried about becoming a burden to them.

Mordred went to grab a block but seemed to be too slow as Lance took it first. He thought nothing of it as he reaching for another one that was closer to him. When that block was swiped by the other man as well, Mordred realized the game that was being played.

If Lance was going to be like that, he would find something else to do. He figured he was in luck as there were other toys scattered around the blanket laid section. Mordred moved to play with a set of colorful rings that need to be stacked onto a ring stand. He had just found the stand needed to place the rings on when he saw several of the rings had being picked up by Lance.

Mordred frowned and decide to move back toward where he had been before. It seemed Lance wanted to play with whatever he was going to pick next. So he grabbed a few of the colorful squishy blocks before sitting as far away from the other man that he could without being off the blanket.

When he saw a hand going for one of the blocks he had, it was the straw that broke him. He had tried to be patient with the other man because he was only the guest here. However everything he was dealing with on the inside had bubbled up and needed to spill over.

“NO!” Screamed Mordred as he slapped the other man’s hand away from the block and instantly regretted what he had done.

He looked over at Merlin and Gwen in a state of shock when the other man began to wail. The disappointed look on their faces made him want to disappear. He could only watch as Gwen got up to consult Lance. He knew his eyes were starting to water as Merlin was coming toward him.

Mordred couldn’t stop the tears if he had wanted to. He worried that the moment might have just destroyed the greatest thing that had ever happened to him. For he had just hit someone, the dark haired man may not want to keep such an ill-mannered little. The couple could still rip up that official form when it came in the mail and he would be on the street.

“Sweetheart, can you tell Papa why you hit Lance?” he heard Merlin asking but his mind couldn’t think of a logical justification.

Mordred knew he couldn’t say he was jealous of the other man for getting some of Merlin’s attention. In addition, saying something about wanting to be at home with his papa instead of here was not likely going to go over well. So he figured it would be best to go with the simplest problem that had occurred for the hit of Lance.

“He no share.” Said Mordred looking up to the dark haired man with the saddest eyes that he could muster and holding up the three blocks. “Only have these.”

“Is that true Lance?” Asked Gwen as she looked over at him and then at the other blocks at the other side of the blanket, before her eyes rested onto Lance. “Where you not sharing your toys with Mordred?”

Mordred was surprised when the other man nodded for he figured like the foster kids from his past, Lance was going to make him out to be a liar. There was another shock to his system when Gwen made the other man go to a corner for a time out. He saw that there was another open corner in the room and decide to head toward it.

It might help show that he was not a delinquent if Mordred decided to put himself in time out before the dark haired man could say it. For Mordred knew he had done wrong and if all he had to do to keep his papa and daddy were twenty minutes in a corner. It was a price he was willing to pay a thousand times over.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Merlin stared at the back of his little who was sitting in a corner before looking over at the other spot. He wondered how things had gone so terribly off balanced to have not just one but both boys in time out. He had imagined that his best friend and Mordred would become instance buddies during this play date. However it seemed the green eyed monster had taken them over instead.

Gwen had mentioned jealousy taking over her usually sweet and kind Lance. Which got him thinking about the way Mordred had been behaving as well, both littles had been vying for his attention earlier. He had been so wrapped up in his own head about how his best friend would act similar to the way Gwaine had, that Merlin hadn’t been watched them like he should have. Too busy with what Gwen had been showing him on her tablet to even glance over once when the boys had been left together.

He had already apologized to Gwen who had just shaken her head at him. She went on to explain that the slap sounded worst than it actually was. Lance’s hand had no lasting mark from it and they both could see the pinkish area had already faded. She had reminded him about the time Gwaine had bitten Lance, so it wasn’t the worst thing to happen at a play date.

Merlin still felt like he had failed the young man crying softly in the corner. He should have been taking care of Mordred instead of being a buddy to Lance. He had caused the young man to act out by being oblivious to the issues occurring and that a scared little boy needed him. For he had seen the way Mordred had looked over at him after the hit had occurred.

A timer going off brought him back to reality and he realized it was Mordred’s. The young man had the shorter sentence since time out in their group of friends’ rules went by the little’s actual age. Merlin walked over and tapped Mordred’s shoulder to let the boy know the corner session was over. He was thankful when the young man stood up and followed him toward the sofa where Gwen was sitting. Merlin could see the boy was nervous while standing in front of him as he sat down.

“It’s okay Sweetheart.” Said Merlin, as he placed Mordred’s shaking hands into his own.

“I’m really sorry about what I did to Lance.” Mordred said while looking down at the floor. “I should have came to you instead.”

“I forgive you, Honey.” He said while giving the young man a hug. “You made a mistake and so did Papa.”

He allowed the embrace to dissolve as the boy pushed back to give him a confused look. It seemed his words were not something Mordred was used to hearing from an adult figure. It was as if telling the boy in a roundabout way that he was sorry as well was unbelievable.

“Yes, I should have been watching my little boy closer and seen that there was something off.” said Merlin while he gave the young man a reassuring kiss on the forehead.

“And Papa and little both need to realize that they shouldn’t be so hard on themselves.” He heard Gwen say toward them but mostly to Mordred. “You are new to this and things happen. You are going to break some eggs to make a soufflé”

“I am sorry for hitting Lance, Miss Gwen.” Said the young man whom Merlin had allowed to move closer to Gwen “I have no explanation except it just became too much.”

“All is forgiven, sweetie.” Said Gwen as she smiled at them and turned more toward Mordred. “Sometimes big feelings can be hard. You have no idea how to express them and usually something like this happens.”

Merlin, who had been looking over at Gwen, realized Mordred must have nodded at her. He turned his gaze toward the young man and noticed that the boy was chewing on two fingers. Maybe another reason Mordred had been distress, Lance had a pacifier and the boy did not.

“Oh Honey, why didn’t you ask for a binky?” He asked as he grabbed the dark green messenger bag that he had stuffed to the brim with things for the young man.

He was puzzled when the boy grabbed the pacifier from him with the other hand and kept nibbling on the digits. Luckily for him, Gwen who was closer to the young man pulled the fingers out of Mordred’s mouth. She looked over the poor chewed fingers before looking at the boy’s sad face.

“Can you open your mouth for me, sweetie?” Gwen questioned the young man who looked at her anxiously.

“It’s alright, Sweetheart.” Said Merlin to the boy who was doing what Gwen had asked with caution. “She is a dentist.”

“Did you schedule Mordred for a visit to see me?” Gwen asked him once she had finished her examination.

“I tried but your receptionist said everything was booked solid for three months.” He said to her a bit confused. “I put him on the waiting list if there were any cancellations. Why?”

“I think one of Mordred’s wisdom teeth is coming in.” said Gwen who was using her free hand to rub circles on the young man’s jaw.

Merlin felt a bit concerned for not realizing Mordred was in pain. He knew the young man had taken an interest in biting on the binkies yesterday. However it was something Arthur and he had figured was a bad habit the boy had picked up from the several play dates with Gwaine.

“I think I might have brought a teething toy.” Said Merlin diving back into the bag which he should have organized but had been far too excited about the play date to have taken the time.

A plastic rubberized red strawberry was found buried at the bottom of the bag. Once he had pulled it out from everything else, he could tell that Mordred seemed interested but skeptical of the item. It was only after the strawberry was being chewed by the young man that Merlin got a purr of approval.

 

Gwen had luckily found some pain ointment for Mordred’s sore back gums and the boy seemed to be in a better mood for it. They were waiting for Lance’s timer to go off, which was taken longer since the other man had decided to get out of the corner half way thought the first countdown.

“Why didn’t you want to tell Papa that you were in pain, Honey” Merlin asked Mordred once the young man was sitting comfortably on the couch in between him and Gwen.

The boy looked deep in thought trying to process what needed to be said to make him understand. It was apparent that Mordred was too worried about what his reaction might be to speak openly with them. It was as if silence was a better solution than talking about what was troubling the young man.

“He didn’t want his daddies to feel that he was becoming too difficult to keep.” said Gwen after they waited a few minutes and there was still no reply from Mordred.

“By why would he think like that?” Merlin questioned Gwen while side way hugging the boy.

“Don’t be dense Merlin, It was the same with Lance” said Gwen whom was looking over at the other man sitting quietly in the corner. “Do you really think he wanted you and Arthur to be saddled with him when there was no knowing what the future held for him?”

“But you said Lance was dating Gwen when you found out?” Mordred questioned quietly as if afraid to interfere with their conversation.

“They were but the little and mommy part didn’t come until later down the road.” Said Merlin placing a quick kiss onto the young man’s head before returning his gaze to Gwen “And I thought Lance loved having Arthur and I for uncles.”

“He does and it was most likely what caused him to get into trouble today.” Said Gwen who smiled in a reassuring way to him “But he often told me how he felt like a burden on the two of you.”

“That makes no sense; we treasured our time with being his caretakers.” Said Merlin feeling confused as he looked over at Mordred. “And Papa will never feel like you are too much to handle, Honey.”

“But it’s a lot of work” said the young man who was nervously playing with the teething toy that was still in his hands.

“It doesn’t feel like that to Daddy and me, Sweetheart.” Merlin said he made Mordred stand up with him to give the young man a proper hug and a few kisses on each cheek. “Okay?”

The boy nodded at him before returning the hug. Merlin wanted to shake his head but thought better of it, for it might confuse the young man. He knew there were still many hurdles that Arthur and he would need to jump over before Mordred truly believed some of their words and actions. For he could tell that the young man was still untrusting to assume this arrangement was going to last longer than a few months.


	9. It’s been one of those kinds of day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day is not going by the routine Mordred is use to and something happen that he never imagine would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Everyone!!!
> 
> Hope you are all doing well. It's been a crazy week but this chapter is finally here. Thank you again for all the wonderful comments and kudos. In addition, this chapter has been beta by the awesome and helpful littlewebby!!! Please enjoy and let me know if there are any missing tags :)

May 6th

If Mordred had to describe today in one word, it would be “doomed”. For he knew the second the door to his room had been opened quietly, the day was not going to go well for him. The lights being slowly brought up showed how correct he had been in guessing that the person at the door was Merlin and not Arthur. Since Arthur always checked to see if he was awake first before adjusting the lights.

He sat up and grabbed Shadow before Merlin came over to pull down the side of the crib. This moment of the day was the part he dreaded every time he woke up. One of these days, he figure that one member of the couple was going to be tired of changing him and decide everything was over.

However today didn’t seem to be that day as the dark haired man hummed a familiar tune while undoing the zipper to his sleeper. Mordred tried blocking out what was going on like he usually did while lying motionless on the table. He imaged that Shadow was a real Scottie, and they would be running in the grass of the backyard which he so far had not gotten a chance to explore.

Of course reality always came back when he felt the coldness of the wipe being used to clean him. Then the binky in his mouth would squeak which he squirmed. Mordred was always anxiously awaiting to be either hit or yelled at for moving but those two things never came.

Not that Merlin or Arthur had ever raised their voice at him. It was just what Mordred had considered normal for the way his past had been. This reality of the couples was something he still felt somewhat lost in as he had yet to figure how they could want to kiss his forehead after changing a wet diaper.

He had been hoping that perhaps Papa had woken up with Arthur. However once he had been placed back into his jammies, Merlin explained that daddy was still asleep in the master bedroom. It was confirmed when they passed the room to head downstairs to the kitchen, snoring could be heard coming from that direction.

Having breakfast with Papa would be the catalyst to it all. He was not happy with the fact that Merlin would be going off to work today and Arthur was staying home. Mordred had gotten used to the way things were and early morning time was supposed to be with his daddy on weekdays.

Merlin hadn’t even put on the correct cartoons channel to watch with him, the show had been far too dull to keep his interest. Instead he watched Merlin checking e-mails on the laptop in which the dark haired man used for work through the day when at home with him.

He wanted to complain that it was not fair for some stupid client to need his papa to meet for a consultation on a logo. For Mordred knew after seeing several of Merlin’s designs, they were amazing and shouldn’t need to be reviewed by the too picky customer.

All his thinking had kept him from really enjoying his cuddling with Merlin before it was time to head back to dreamland. Normally he fell asleep by that time and was carried up to the master bedroom or on the rare occasion was sleepily led up the stairs by Arthur. However, Mordred had been wide awake and felt quite awkward when he lay down on the bed next to the sleeping blond haired man.

Unable to drift to sleep, Mordred played games on his phone with the sound turned off. He hadn’t been aware Arthur had woken until fingers attacked his poor tummy. He laughed at his assailant and was thankful the phone had been taken out of his hands. For he knew Arthur would not have liked a thrown object to the face.

Mordred was not thrilled when his daddy decided to put him in the green dragon shirt even if it was his favorite. Since today was Friday and that meant a blue shirt should be worn instead. For his papa had as of last Wednesday started a color for every day of the week and it was kind of fun to stick with the routine.

Then he realized that Daddy was bad at color coordination after grey sweatpants were slipped on him. Orange socks and what he had been dressed in just didn’t equal cohesion in his mind. Mordred could only frown at the clothes that were ignored by Arthur on the rocking chair. For he knew Papa must had placed them there for the blond haired man to dress him in and most likely were matching.

While walking downstairs to the kitchen, Mordred realized that his slippers seemed to be on the wrong feet, something he would have to fix when out of the Daddy’s sight. He quickly took them off once sitting at the kitchen table and saw that he had been correct. For there were a clear marked left and right on the back of the footwear. He shook his head since Papa would never mess up with something so simple like his daddy and it made him miss the dark haired man.

His most disliked juice to drink came to be the cherry on top of his already dreadful morning, cranberry. While eating the mixed fruit bowl that his daddy had made for him, he slowly pushed the sippy cup further away. However luck was not with him as one push too many caused the cup to topple to the ground and not spill a single drop. The result only showed Arthur that the sippy cup hadn’t been touched.

 

Boredom took a hold of him when he was sitting in a chair in the office. Papa always had bright colorful pencils or markers for him to doddle with while he had to color in his sketch pad during work time. Those had unfortunately gone with the dark haired man to the meeting and Mordred was left with just his crayons.

He knew Arthur was busy typing away, most likely e-mailing a client or co-worker. So he decided to explore the drawers to the desk that the couple had labeled as his. It was in the same color stain as the furniture in the nursery and the only one that wasn’t equipped with a lap top as of yet.

For the couple and he had talked about him having a computer, it wouldn’t be for some time and more useful when he was more settled in to this lifestyle. Besides, he wasn't sure what he could use the computer for when in his slightly little mode, he'd rather plays games with his phone at the moment.

Then there was his sketch pad that his daddies had gone over with him which he had forgotten had been stuffed in the black trash bag with the rest of his old life. Unlike Merlin who could come up with a design in the thin air, Mordred liked to draw real objects.

His favorite being dogs and he always made up a story to go along with the four footed subject on his sheet of paper. Thankful the couple had liked his drawings which he had been too embarrassed to show off before.

It had been revealed that he could be considered an apprentice to Merlin when life threw him into Adult mood. Maybe even take a course or two online to help with perfecting his craft. Something he was concerned yet excited about since never before had anyone taken what he enjoyed doing as being work relatable.

However, he was more thrilled with finding a strawberry teething toy in the middle top drawer at this moment in time. Mordred wondered how the toy came to be in the office since the last time he remembered having it; the strawberry had been on the kitchen table next to Merlin earlier. He thought perhaps Papa knew that Daddy would make him sit in the office for too long and he would need something to do.

“Mordred, where did you get that?” he heard Arthur saying before he could even take out his binky to put the found object in his mouth.

“In my desk” said Mordred pouting as the blond haired man came over to him. “P...Merlin put it in there.”

Mordred was thankful for catching his mistake before uttering the word that he wasn’t sure he felt ready to be saying quite yet.

He wasn’t too happy when Arthur took the teething toy from him and snapped a picture. Hearing a beeping sound emit from the blond haired man’s phone, Mordred knew that Merlin had replied back to whatever message his daddy had sent.

“Papa says that this pink one was hidden by you yesterday” Said Arthur while reading from the phone to him. “There should be a clean white colored one in the freezer, if you need one.”

“No, it’s okay.” Said Mordred for he wasn’t in the mood to chew on a cold one and was bummed that the pink one was out of reach.

He scratched his head while trying to remember the color of the one in the kitchen. Bright red came to mind and Mordred realized papa had been correct about the pink one. Stuffing the toy in the drawer had seemed like the easiest thing to do when his daddy had arrived home yesterday.

“How about some lunch instead?” He heard Arthur question which brought him out of his memory of last night.

“Peanut butter and jelly?” asked Mordred for he was really hoping to have something that made the day not be so opposite to a usual weekday at home.

“I think I might be able to manage that” said his daddy which made him smile since he knew Arthur was not a great cook.

 

Mordred was not in a very good mood after lunch. He had a big issue to deal with and Arthur was on the phone talking to a needy person. The problem was that he should have been allowed a visit to the potty already and his bladder was not going to hold much longer.

Distraction tactics did nothing to help him as he squirmed. The picture in his coloring book that had been getting quite colorful made everything worse. For grabbing a crayon to use on the sun had reawaken the issue being dealt with.

He had already tried the bathroom doors twice, both were still locked. Then something struck him as he felt a squirt of pee leave him, the sink in the kitchen. It might not seem like the great idea but it would work, far better than his alternative.

Standing in the doorframe of the kitchen, Mordred started planning his next move. He grabbed a chair and placed it next to the sink to stand on top of since he needed to avoid making a mess. Arthur could put him in time out or even spank him later as he tugged down his sweatpants and pull-up.

The only thing that mattered to him at the moment was the agony and stress going down the drain with the stream of yellow. Then Mordred frowned for he was feeling a familiar wetness similar to when he woke up in the morning with a used diaper and that shouldn’t be possible.

The panic set in after he blinked and realized he was nowhere near the sink. No he was still in the doorway of the kitchen. That could only mean one thing; he was relieving himself into the pull-up that was underneath his sweatpants.

Mordred could feel the anxiety building as his hands found the draw strings on the sweatpants still around his hips. He knew there was no use trying to stop his bladder as it was already too far gone. All he could do was pray the pull-up would be able to hold everything in. For he had no clue how Arthur was going to react over this and wet sweatpants might make the matter worse.

If Merlin was here, he wouldn’t feel so hopeless. Papa would most likely tell him it was okay, similar to when the dark haired man changed him in the mornings. However daddy was a stricter kind of caretaker and Mordred was not sure what was going to occur when the entire event was said and done. After all it had been Arthur that he had told almost two weeks earlier about not needing diapers. Here at this moment told an entirely different story.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Arthur was listening to a highly annoying co-worker asking about how to set up a particular file. He was more interested in watching the time tick by on the screen of his desktop computer. For Mordred had came into the doorway of the office a few minutes ago looking at him in a needy way. He had silently asked the young man to wait by holding up a finger and watched the boy leave. Hopeful Mordred had gone back to watching the cartoons that he had put on when the phone call had just begun.

Knowing that there might be a crisis underway in the living room, Arthur charmed his way into ending the phone call as quickly as he could which was still five minutes later than intended. He was a bit worried when he entered the living room and his little boy was not sitting on the couch or playing with the toy cars scattered on the floor.

Arthur frowned and wanted to kick himself for answering his phone. He knew Mordred was having a tough time with adjusting to him being home instead of Merlin. In addition, nap time should have already been underway which might make for a cranky not doing as told little.

It was only when he went toward the kitchen to make a warm bottle of milk that he almost bumped into Mordred. The young man seemed to be frozen in the entrance way. Arthur peered over the boy’s head and looked around the room but found nothing out of place.

“Is there an invisible giraffe standing in the kitchen?” Asked Arthur as he hoped his silly question would break the trance the young man was in.

He could only watch in an eerie way as the boy turned toward him but kept looking towards the ground.

“What’s wrong love?” Asked Arthur as he bent down and pulled Mordred’s chin up to look into the boy’s blue eyes.

However Mordred’s gaze went to the wall instead of his eyes and he could tell the young man was trying to keep the tears at bay. Whatever had happened, the boy was terrified of him finding out. Then it was like a light bulb had gone off above him as a thought came to mind.

Arthur not wanting to be too brash as he slowly and softly grabbed the crotch area of the sweatpants to find he had been correct in his assumption. Discovering that the boy had a wet pull-up would be the undoing of Mordred as tears streamed down the young man’s face.

“Don’t cry love, it’s nothing to get upset about.” He said gently as he pulled the boy toward him into a hug. “Daddy and Papa knew it would have only been a matter of time. Why do you think we made you wear them?”

“To make me feel little” said the young man looking up at him. “Never was supposed to actually use them.”

“Well, it doesn’t bother me that you did.” Said Arthur as he rubbed Mordred’s back to calm the frighten boy.

“I want Papa!” cried Mordred who seemed to be more rile up by his efforts than relaxed.

Arthur knew Merlin would have been pleased to hear that name come out of the young man’s mouth, just not at this moment of course. He honestly didn’t have a reply as he wanted his husband to be here as well. He figured that the dark haired man would have been more skilled at fixing this situation than him. For how was he ever going to get the boy changed?

 

Getting the young man into the hallway bathroom took some patience and bribery. Luckily for him, the boy had been easily taken for only a few pieces of candy. It was even better when he found that there were M&M’s in the pantry to give to Mordred.

Things were going according to his plan as Arthur was able to get the grey sweatpants off the boy. However the reveal of the wet pull-up sent the young man into another sea of tears.

“No more swords” cried Mordred who was looking down at the faded section of the pull-up.

“It’s okay, love.” Arthur said trying to get the boy to lie down onto a changing pad he had laid out.

He figured it might be easier if they went through a similar routine to the morning diaper change instead of the boy standing while being cleaned up. He grabbed his phone from his back pocket to provide Mordred a distraction since there was no time to get a stuffed animal from upstairs.

“The knight going to die without them.” Said Mordred who had finally given in to his demand somewhat and sat down onto the pad

“I’m sure he will be fine without them.” He said while offering his phone to the young man. “I’m sure he knows hand to hand combat.”

“But what if he doesn’t?” questioned the young man slowly lying down onto the pad and toweled covered tile floor with Arthur’s phone.

“Then a warlock will have to come and save him.” Said Arthur who blew a raspberry on the boy’s tummy after the green shirt Mordred was wearing had been pushed up.

Hearing the young man giggle told Arthur that everything was going to be fine. Even without his husband here for support, he had somehow managed to save the afternoon. He was quite proud of himself for coming up with a quirky answer on the fly, maybe Merlin’s world was opening up to him as well. Given that ever since Mordred had come to be with them, he had been seeing things in a new light.

 

Arthur was quite thankful that Merlin had the foresight to purchase a bottle warmer. Since the young man had taken to the concept of milk before sleepy times, the item was great for a non stove aficionados like him to use. In addition, the time hadn’t taken very long which was good since Mordred seemed well past due for a snooze.

The little had become clingy after being changed and Arthur simply used that to his advantage. He had got them up the stairs and heading towards the nursery without an argument from the boy. For Merlin had warned him about Mordred sometimes not want to go down for a nap right away and a time out might be needed first.

“No star today” said the young man as Arthur had turned up the lights to the nursery.

He looked over to where Mordred was heading and groaned at the dog calendar hanging up on the back of the closet door. Arthur had not been thrilled when his husband had decided to add another layer to their reward system. How he was cursing Percival in his head for suggesting the idea to Merlin during a play date.

Of course, Mordred seemed to be happy with the idea of getting a star for staying dry and not have a single wet pull-up at the end of each day. Thirteen stars on the calendar stared back at them and the young man was one short of getting a treat. Merlin had declared that Mordred would get something special for every seven stars added to calendar.

“Sorry bud, maybe tomorrow.” said Arthur as he walked over toward the young man in hope of steering the boy to the crib.

“But Papa said we could get ice cream.” Mordred said while turning toward him with a pouty face.

Arthur cringed inside at the look the boy was giving him. For he could see the disappointment in the little’s sad eyes and in the adult Mordred’s as well at that moment. He had never imaged how deprived the young man had been in the past to be so upset about what he consider a simple treat. It made sense now why the young man had been so delighted with Merlin’s chocolate pudding last Friday.

He frowned for unfortunately the rules couldn’t be broken or altered. Besides he figured Saturday would be a better night for the young man to cash in the reward anyway. Since Arthur knew they would still be heading to Crazy Cone College, an ice cream shop owned by Will whom was a friend of Merlin’s.

“Perhaps it was meant to be this way.” Arthur said as he moved toward the crib in hopes that Mordred would follow since his first idea had failed. “Having to wait another day might just make it worth a double scoop.”

The boy seemed to like his way of thinking as he watched Mordred moving toward him, not longer distraught about the lost star. He waited for the young man to get closer before pulling down the blanket on the bed as the side of the crib had been left down earlier by his husband.

Arthur had been hoping to get some work done while the boy napped. However at the moment, the little was clutching his shirt instead of climbing into the bed to lie down. Even when he handed over the bottle of warm milk, Mordred seemed unwilling to let go of him.

Somehow he knew that it would be better to give in to the young man's silent request. The afternoon had been rough on his little knight as Merlin would have said, if his husband had been here. It seemed Mordred needed the comfort of knowing he wasn’t about to up and leave the boy after the event from earlier.

So Arthur found himself in a similar position as the picture on the home page of his phone of Merlin, lying in the bed with Mordred’s head on his chest. Luckily he had turned down the lights before climbing in and had remembered to turn on a playlist with his phone for the boy to listen to.

“Don’t like this music, Daddy” he heard softly being said by Mordred who seemed half asleep.

He chuckled at the fact that Merlin had already corrupted their little boy with wanting classical music. For the song playing was _The sound of silence by Simon and Garfunkel_ and it usually helped him relax. So Arthur fumbled for his phone which he had placed on the floor to switch songs to _Air on G string by Bach_.

Arthur waited until the boy seemed to go lax before grinning to himself. For it had not gone unnoticed on what Mordred had called him. A name he had never realized would sound so wonderful to hear out of the young man’s mouth.

At this moment, Arthur was quite thankful for getting this opportunity to take care of Mordred for most of the day. He had no idea how challenging yet rewarding it would be to spend the time with the young man. He would have to give his husband more credit for the hard work that it took to be at home during the day. Hopefully Merlin wouldn’t be too mad at him for the way the house look. For Arthur had already yawned three times and knew there was no way of getting out of this position without waking the sleeping boy cuddled up next to him.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Merlin was glad to be home when he opened the front door. He sighed while taking of his shoes before hanging up his light jacket on the coat hanger. Even though his meeting had gone well and the lunch-in with co-workers had been fun. He had not realized how much he would miss Mordred during the day. All the photos on his phone could not make up for the sadness in his heart and the longing to be with his little boy.

He had walked into the living room, hoping to see his husband and Mordred playing or perhaps coloring. However all he found was an abandoned television show and a clutter of toys. Crayons were discarded from their box and laying on the coffee table. Toy cars were scattered around the floor in wait for a poor foot to step on. Mega blocks had been pushed to corner but still in a disheveled way. Train tracks were unconnected but still slightly formed the course that they were laid.

Once everything had been picked up and put away, Merlin wondered if Arthur could have taken Mordred to the park. The weather was getting warmer and they had yet to figure out whether the young man enjoyed the outdoors. There was a park about fifteen minutes away from the house by walking, easy enough to just up and go to.

However Merlin saw that the dark green messenger bag that was being used as Mordred’s so called “diaper bag”, was still in the last place he had left it. Next to the coat hanger and he really should have spotted it when placing down his own brown leathered messenger bag. Merlin shrugged at himself since he had been too excited to be home to properly look around.

The idea of the office came to mind since Arthur was such an annoying workaholic some days. He figured he had to be correct when he saw that the door had been left open and the lights were on. Unfortunately, the work area was empty as well. He searched around the room for clues but only saw a draft to an e-mail and the found-but-still-in-the-wrong-location teething toy.

Merlin quickly turned off the lights, closed the door, and took the toy to the kitchen to be sanitized. While in the kitchen cleaning he found a puzzle piece to the mystery of what had happened to Arthur and Mordred. The bottle warmer was still on which meant his husband had made one since he did things the old fashion way.

 

The door to the nursery was left ajar and Merlin could see the nightlight changing colors. He tiptoed into the room and smirked. For there was a phone in his back pocket and the cute image needed to be captured.

Luckily for him, the sound of photos being snapped did not wake the sleeping creatures. Merlin was looking at his victory of sorts and noticed dried tear stains upon his little elf’s face. He wondered what would have caused Mordred to cry since the last text he had received from Arthur had been very positive.

He rapidly check his messages since the phone in his hands could do the weirdest things, like not send an e-mail for days or sent a picture to his mom when it was meant for someone else. There had been no new messages from the sleeping blond haired man. The time on the most recent one from his husband had been around noon and included a picture of Mordred eating a messy PB&J sandwich.

Something must have happened after and Merlin could only guess that it might explain the reason why the living room had been so untidy. For his little one was usually so good at picking up after playing with a toy. Then again he realized that Arthur might have been the cause as his husband could be like a twister when it came to making a mess.

Deciding to leave the duo of snoozers, Merlin slowly backed away from the crib. Of course his plan of exiting the room and going back downstairs without making a sound would crumble. For the dark haired man had tripped over a stray stuffy that had somehow left the bed, unfortunately caused Arthur to stir. His husband looked toward him as he was getting up and of course chuckled at his clumsiness.

The motions of Arthur’s chest moving awakened the sleeping little who's head had been laying upon it. Merlin felt horrible seeing the young man’s confused face for that must have been a jarring way to wake up. He quickly brought up the lights which might have made things worse as both Arthur and Mordred were covering their eyes over the brightness.

Merlin was about to apologies for interrupting the nap section when he saw Mordred break into tears. The young man without hesitation climbed over Arthur and ran into his waiting arms. He could tell that his little boy needed him for reassurance.

He rubbed Mordred’s back while allowing the boy to cry into his shirt. Waiting to know what had brought on the tears was nerve racking but he figured it would be better than forcing an answer. He looked over toward Arthur who seemed just as upset.

“The calendar will not be getting an addition today” Said his husband whose eyes were hinting to him about what was hanging on the closet’s door. “We will have to wait until another day.”

It took him a few seconds to understand what Arthur meant before it clicked. His poor little elf was unfortunately suffering from having an accident earlier. He decide to wait until later when it was just him and his husband before finding out the detail of what had happened.

“It’s alright Honey,” Merlin said as he gave the young man a kiss on the forehead. “Maybe Saturday will be lucky day fourteen.”

“Daddy said that too.” Said the young man as the boy sadly looked up at him while chewing on a finger.

Merlin was slightly taken back at hearing the name from Mordred’s mouth. Perhaps the main occurrence from today had been a good thing in disguise. It seemed that the boy had gone even deeper into being little and maybe soon would be at the green card status.

“I’m sure the wait will be worth it.” Said Merlin removing the digits from the boy’s mouth and was thankful to find a pacifier in his reach to hand off to the young man. “How does hot fudge sound?”

“I would like that, Papa” said Mordred whose eyes now glistened as the young man hugged him.

He was quite confused on why his husband was laughing while coming over to join them to cuddle. Arthur whispered 'double scoop' in his ear which only made him more puzzled. His husband mouthed 'later' and he hoped the blond haired man would explain to him why the promise of a topping and the number of scoops seemed so funny.

Of course Merlin wasn’t really too worried about ice cream at the moment. For Mordred had called him by the name he had been hoping to hear out of a little’s mouth for over a year. He had been afraid that because Arthur and he had not forced the names onto the boy in the beginning, those words would never be spoken. However it seemed the books had been wrong about making sure the little said their names right away. Something he was grateful for not pushing since Mordred was doing and say things at a pace that seemed to work for all of them.


	10. It's off to work we go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All it takes is one red lunch box left on the kitchen counter for an adventure to begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everyone,
> 
> Hope you are all doing well. Once again I want to thank you for the comments and kudos, I love all of them. Thid chapter has been beta by the lovely and talented littlewebby! So applause to her and please enjoy!!!

May 11th 

It would happen to be his kind of luck that something like this would occur. For the moment Merlin had poured milk into his cereal, the door bell would ring. Not many people actually came to their door so he was slightly puzzled at who it could be. 

“I will be right back, Honey.” said Merlin getting up from his seat at the kitchen table. “Stay here.” 

“Okay Papa.” Mordred said before returning to munch on the grapes from the bowl that he had given the young man. 

Merlin smiled at the little for he was still in a state of bliss from hearing that name the young man was calling him. In addition, he was quite thrilled that Mordred seemed to be speaking more. No longer was there just a nod or shake of the head. A development that seemed to occur when the green card was in play, the over thinking and refrain from talking by the young man had disappeared. 

While walking into the hallway, he wondered if they were pushing the particular card too soon. However Arthur and he had agreed that Mordred’s action as of late did seem to be pure littleness. Then there was the fact that if the young man had disagreed with them, the card would have been changed out. 

The person whom he encountered at he opened the door would turn out to be the mail-person. It seemed there was an important item which needed a signature. Merlin gladly took the stylus and scanner to quickly scribble, as best he could, his name. 

Once the mail was handed over to him, he realized what had been considered priority. An envelope with 'do not fold' written in several places could only be one thing. This had to be the official consent form that they had been waiting for. 

Merlin carefully ripped the top section of the package to retrieve the authenticated sealed parchment paper with the official recognition of consent. Mordred’s name was in the middle of the sheet with 'registered little' as the title underneath. Arthur’s and his name were below the young man’s and both designated parent names were given as well. In the bottom left corner was the seal and the right had the secretary of the department signature and the date of approval. 

Included in the envelope were three cards with similar information for them to keep on person for necessary reasons. It was a good thing that he had recently found a spare wallet for Mordred to use. The two of them could go later today and get a little ID card for the young man. Another item that came in handy and would be quite useful when needed. 

A distressed little tends to forget to use the cell phone that might be in pocket or hand. So if Mordred got separated from him during a grocery run or shopping trip for who know what reason, the ID card would be helpful for the young man. The ID card which would have their names, address and phone numbers could be easily given to a police officer or employee who would ask for it. Merlin knew from the pages he heard while in stores that the laminated piece of paper was quite worth it. 

“Papa?” Merlin heard Mordred say causing him to leave his train of thoughts. 

“Yes, Sweetheart.” Said Merlin as he figured the boy was most likely asking to leave the kitchen table. 

He smiled at the young man walking towards him and noticed that there was a lunch bag in the boy’s left hand. Merlin seemed somewhat confused since what Mordred was carrying appeared to be Arthur’s. They had several different kinds of lunch bags but the red one with two separated sections was reserved for the blond haired man. 

“Daddy has no lunch.” Mordred said sadly while showing him the item in hand. 

Merlin almost wanted to laugh for it was just too adorable. The young man was genially concerned about the fact that Arthur who must have been in a rush this morning, had forgotten to snatch the red bag on the way out. He knew his husband had money in pocket to order lunch or grab a bite to eat with co-workers. However since he had figured the two of them were going out anyways, perhaps a stop to the office might be a good idea as well. 

“What do you think we should do?” Questioned Merlin wondering if he had figured out correctly what his little boy wanted to do. 

“Can we take it to him?” Asked the young man who seemed to be given him the sad puppy dog look. “Please Papa?” 

“I think he would like that.” Said Merlin grabbed the rest of the mail that had been abandoned on the hallway’s table next to the front door to put into the office area. “Should we call him to say we are coming?” 

“No” said Mordred who followed him down the hallway. “Want it to be a surprise.” 

“Oh okay, Honey” said Merlin as he positioned the mail in different slots within the stacked tray on Arthur’s desk and careful placed the official form on his own desk to frame later. “Can Papa eat breakfast first?” 

“It’s all mushy now” said the young man who handed over the lunch box to him once his hands were free. 

“That’s how Papa likes it” said Merlin who laughed when he saw the face the boy gave him. 

He allowed for Mordred to head out of the office first before closing the door behind him. Merlin smiled while watching the young man quickly walk off almost with a skip in the boy’s step toward the living room. It truly seemed like the young man was finally letting go of the fears and was enjoying this life. The only thing Merlin could hope for at the moment, was that toys would keep Mordred occupied for him to get something to eat and things ready for their adventure today. 

 

Merlin was quickly organizing the dark green messenger bag while his little elf was busy watching cartoons. The bag was large enough to fit what he had but Merlin liked to have everything in its place for easy access. Especially after the play date with Gwen and Lance had proven to him how important it was to be organized. Plus he wanted to be sure he was ready for anything and everything that might happen while gone from the homestead. For his mother always said it was better to be prepared for the storm even if it never came. 

Once he was satisfied with Mordred’s bag, Merlin moved onto his own messenger bag. He needed to make sure there were necessary items like pencils and sketch pads since inspiration struck at a moment notice. In addition, heading to work might cause a stray co-worker or customer to ask him a question. Sometimes it was easier to show them what he was thinking of doing with a logo or branding design than talking. 

Merlin placed both set of bags in the hallway next to the red lunch box for easy access when it was time to head out the door. He was heading toward where they kept all the outdoor footwear when Mordred appeared out of nowhere next to him. Quickly looking over Merlin could tell the young man was thrilled about going out to visit Arthur. 

He was grateful that he had already redressed Mordred in a pair of jeans and a non-stained shirt after an earlier potty trip. Since just trying to get shoes on at the moment was proving to be a difficult task with the young man. He would have to tell his husband how much the boy wanted to see his daddy if the excitement was anything to go by. 

It was only by a slim chance of luck that there was a light jacket on the young man as they were heading out the door. Mordred would follow his example while he had been placing on his own coat. Even if it was because the boy was just in too much of a hurry to wait for him to grab the jacket, Merlin would be thankful for the item being on the boy as the wind was not nice today. 

“Papa?” He heard Mordred ask from behind him while he was opening the back door to his blue Tucson. 

“Yes, Honey?” questioned Merlin who looked over at the young man’s concerned face while Mordred was carrying the dark green messenger bag over to him. “What the matter?”” 

“No lunch box” said the boy putting up hands after giving him the messenger bag. 

Merlin quickly looked inside the SUV to see what he had already placed within it. The leather messenger bag of his was sitting in the back seat next to Mordred’s booster seat. He moved things like the snow brush that was not longer needed around but found that the young man was correct. They had forgotten the red lunch bag inside as well. Perhaps whatever was in that particular bag just didn’t want to be eaten for it had escaped twice so far. 

Grabbing the keys to the house to reenter, Merlin debated if it would be better for the young man to stay by the car or come with him. Luckily for him the decision was made by Mordred who follow him the second he moved a step toward the house. It seemed that the young man had become attached to him. Something Merlin figured he was going to have to look into, for it might be a disaster if he tried leaving the boy with Gwen or Percival for a short time if need be. 

 

It was only after they had returned inside that he heard his phone going off somewhere within the house. He quickly traced the noise maker to the kitchen which showed that his husband was calling. Figuring that it was about the red lunch bag that was being held by Mordred at the moment, Merlin placed the phone in his front pocket and let Arthur go to voice mail. For Merlin couldn’t ruin the face that he had imagined his husband was going to make when they showed up at work in a couple of hours.

Merlin made sure the door was locked before Mordred and he walked away from the house toward the car for a second time. Hopefully there would be nothing else that required them to turn around or stop. Since time seemed to be moving faster than them and they need to arrive at work before lunch happened. 

Luck was on his side as he buckled the young man in the booster seat. For Merlin still had trouble with getting all the connections correct to the contraption that Mordred had to be placed in. It was a safely regulation for littles to be placed in a specially designed car seat as they tended to sit wonky if left to use a regular seat belt. Therefore for the young man’s own protection, the seat had been purchased online and put in his car a few weeks ago. 

Once Merlin was in the driver's seat of his blue Tucson, he looked back to make sure everything they needed was in the car. Mordred was grinning at him while holding tightly to Arthur’s red lunch bag. It seemed all was good to go as he smiled back at the boy before turning back around to start the car. 

Merlin could only sigh in contentment as he pulled the emergency brake down and placed the car into gear to drive off and start what would be quite a journey. He knew that this was going to be an occurrence that the three of them were going to really enjoy and if he was wrong then it would be a funny story to tell their friends later. So in all consideration this was an exciting adventure just wanting for them to pick the outcome. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mordred’s giddiness turned into nervousness as he saw the building that his Papa was driving closer to. It had to be about forty stories tall and the size of a football field. He had for some strange reason thought that his parents worked for a small company since they told him it was family owned. 

Maybe taking Daddy’s lunch to work wasn’t a good idea after all. Mordred had figured it would be an easy in and out kind of job, maybe only a few stop to deal with co-workers. However there was no telling how many people knew his daddies and were going to stop Papa to chat. He wasn’t sure if he could handle all that unwanted attention and stares. 

The butterflies in his tummy started flying around when his papa pulled into a parking lot connected to the building. When Merlin pulled into a free space far away from the glass doors, they started moving faster. He knew this adventure as his papa would say was going to be a longer trip than he had imagined. 

Mordred wondered if they could just call Daddy and ask Arthur to meet them on the first floor. However he kind of wanted to see the blond haired man for longer than a moment and get a good hug out of the deal. A simple dash, hand off and leave would not result in what he wanted. 

Beside Papa and he had already accomplished one half of this adventure, it would be disappointing if it ended before finishing the rest. So Mordred put on a brave face as Merlin opened the back door on his side of the car. He could already tell by the dark haired man’s smile, Papa was animated about surprising Daddy at work and there was no going back now. 

 

Stepping into the building, Mordred could feel his tummy doing flips as the concern started to set in. For what if he made a fool out of his daddies while here at their work? He knew that his parents enjoyed having these particular jobs and he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he caused problems for them. 

Then there was the fact that he was dressed very much like a little and it made him feel quite vulnerable. Mordred had wanted to keep his jacket on to hide the fact that he had a binky attach to his shirt at the moment but the building was too warm. Plus Papa had been all sweet and kind to him when taking off the jacket for him to argue. 

Trying to walk to the elevator with his papa and take off the dog pin on his shirt proved to be too difficult. Therefore he decided to just deal with the pacifier and placed the object into his mouth. The item would just solidify to the people of his daddies’ office that he was indeed the little that they had mostly already been told about. 

Papa seemed to like his choice as the dark haired man gave him a sideways hug once they were in the elevator. He heard Merlin talking about the third floor and how it might a good place to visit before surprising Daddy. Which had him frown slightly behind his binky, for he had already waited far too long to see Arthur. 

Mordred watched as the numbering on the elevator went up to three before stopping. He sort of didn’t want to follow his papa when the doors opened since he had no clue what happened on the floor. However he heard the sound of a cartoon he liked to watch in the morning with Daddy and that peak his interest. 

Walking with Merlin, he saw that they had landed in what could only be described as a play room. Mordred could see a few littles running around the area and several staff members walking around to keep eyes on what was going on. He turned his head to the side and found other littles coloring or building towers with blocks. He noticed there was a big screen TV along the wall playing his show. 

It occurred to him that this place appeared to be exactly like what Gwaine had described as a daycare center. In fact it probably was one and he had a horrible thought of having to be left here while Papa took the lunch bag to Daddy. Not wanting that to happen, Mordred quickly grabbed Merlin’s hand tightly. 

He kept in step with his papa as they were walking over to a staff member. Thankful Merlin asked if Morgana was there and not about him joining the group. For while it looked like a great location to stay if need be, today was not that kind of day to sit and color while important matters needed to be taken care of. 

Once Papa got his answer of 'no' from the nice person, they were on their way back to the elevator. Mordred would have to determine if he could actually see himself at this place if there was ever a need for him to. He didn’t like the idea of both his daddies working with a client and him being downstairs. However it would be better to be in the same building as them than to be somewhere far away. 

 

The butterflies started up again as the elevator stopped at floor 16. Mordred was grateful for the hand squeeze that his papa had given him as the doors opened. He just had to get through this and it would all be worth it once Daddy was in view. 

Mordred lagged behind his papa a little bit as he was trying to take everything in as they were walking. There had to be tons of open concept cubicle back to back and far too many for him to get a good number on. He blushed for a few of the people had stopped working and were looking over at him and Merlin. 

It seemed that Papa had a predetermined destination as they moved quickly around the confusing set up of the floor. It was only once they stopped that Mordred got a chance to see the actual layout of level 16. The door with Arthur Pendragon printed out on it, stared back at him once he turned his head toward where they were standing and the desk that was next to it. 

“Merlin, what are you doing here?” he heard what sounded like a young lady asking as Mordred had decided to use his papa as a shield. 

“Good late morning Mithian, is Arthur around?” question Merlin who tried looking over at him before turning back to the person at the desk. “He forgot his lunch and we decide to come and bring it to him.” 

“He in a meeting at the moment” said the young lady who must be Mithian whom Mordred could tell was trying to see what was behind Merlin’s back. “And did you say we?” 

“I did, someone seems to be in a shy mood.” He heard his Papa say before the dark haired man moved sideways without warning to give up his hiding spot from her. “I present to you, my apprentice Mordred” 

The young lady squealed at seeing him which caused Mordred to bury his hot face into his papa’s jacket. It seemed Mithian had seen pictures of him from Arthur’s phone and had been begging the blond haired man to bring him in to work. It was a far different reaction to what he had expected his daddy’s co-workers to be toward him. He was a bit worried when he heard a chair being pushed back which could only signify that she was standing up for a proper greeting. 

“Hello there, Mordred.” Said the young lady as she moved towards them and held out her hand for him to shake. “My name is Mithian; it’s very nice to meet you.” 

Mordred turned his head toward her before quickly looking up at his Papa. Merlin was smiling at him in an encouraging way and that helped with the decision to be bold. He let go from his hold on Papa to move closer toward her so they could shake hands. 

“Morgana is going to be jealous that I got to meet Mordred first.” Said Mithian as the young lady returned to sitting at her desk. 

“Did someone say my name?” Mordred heard a voice say behind the three of them. 

He turned to see a beautiful dark haired woman coming toward their location. Her face lit up when her eyes landed on him for she must have realized who he was. Mordred could only wonder how many of his daddies co-workers, family, and friends had seen the photos that those two shutterbugs took of him. 

It was a weird yet wonderful feeling when she gave him a hug before even introducing herself. He speculated if it was a family thing to greet a person this way since she was Arthur’s older sister. Not wanting to be rude to someone who seemed to like him without having to test him, Mordred returned the hug. 

“It’s so great to finally meet you.” Said Morgana smiling as she moved away from him after the hugging fest was over. “I’ve haven’t seen Arthur this happy in a while.” 

“Same goes for you too, Merlin” Mithian chimed in while typing away at her computer. “The both of you have been walking on cloud nine lately.” 

“Has it been that obvious?” Question his papa who gave a concerned look. “Were things that bad before?” 

“No, we didn’t mean it like that. You were content but missing something before.” Morgana said as she gave Merlin a light punch on the shoulder closest to her. “With Mordred, you seem complete and full of life.” 

“Plus you sent all these great photos now.” Said Mithian who had picked up her phone and decided to show him them. 

Mordred was quite surprised to see that many pictures of himself as his daddies had only showed him a few. Most were taken when he was asleep or not aware like the one where he was playing on the monkey bars at the park. He could feel his face heating up as the comments from the photos were quite touching. 

“Those are cute but nothing compares to the real thing.” Morgana said who gave him a quick wink as she turned toward Merlin. “I heard you were asking for me on floor 3.” 

“I figured you would be there.” Said his papa as the dark haired man gave her an apologetic look. “I forgot about the auditors still being here.” 

“Yes, they leave on Friday if everything goes well.” Said Morgana who seemed drained but then perked up. “So with things less hectic around here, I can get a chance to play with Mordred soon.” 

That when it hit Mordred, he had know and been told several times that Morgana was a little. However it had been forgotten since she seemed so in control of herself. It was a bit confusing to him since he had yet to meet a little in their Adult mood before. A million questions came to mind like how she did she stay in red card for so long. Was it something that came in time he wondered before his thoughts drifted to the red lunch bag still in his hand. 

Not wanting to interrupt the conversation flowing between his papa and Morgana, he looked over at Mithian. She had gone back to work and it was kind of mesmerizing to watch her fingers quickly move from one key to another. Luckily for him, she stopped when he came toward her. Holding up the bag to show her as he was still too nervous to remove the binky still in his mouth, he pleaded with his eyes that she got his message. 

He was quite thankful when she smiled at him before grabbing the office phone on her desk. She spoke effortlessly over the speaker which broadcasted her voice all over the floor. He grinned at hearing his daddy’s name being called out. How exhilarating he felt knowing that in a few ticks of the clock, he would be seeing the person he had been waiting so long to see. For there was a part of him that felt sad when Arthur was not around and it was the same when Merlin was the one away. He liked having the both of them around and especially when he had a reason to give them hugs. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Arthur knew he had told his secretary to only page him if there was an emergency. He was with a very important customer at the moment that had been with the company from the beginning. Annis’ toy house emporium was usually his father’s client but the auditors had to be kept happy by the man. So it had fallen onto him to handle this meeting with Annis and he was trying his best to please her. 

So he had walked out of the conference room with frustration in his steps. Arthur was about to yell at Mithian for the interruption when something hit him in the side. The word Daddy came to be understood by his brain once he saw Merlin standing next to his secretary’s desk. He had figured out what was holding on to him tightly, Mordred. 

“Hey buddy, what are you doing here?” he asked while feeling all the anger drain from him as he gave the boy a kiss on the forehead and a hug back. 

He watched at the young man detangled from him to show a red lunch bag. He knew the object in the boy’s hand far too well and was confused. For Arthur always grabbed his lunch box at the same time as his traveling coffee mug. But then doubt came to mind when he realized the hand to take the bag was busy holding his cell phone while talking to his father this morning. 

“You forgot your lunch and Mordred wanted to bring it to you.” Said his husband coming up toward were they were standing in the middle of the work area. “Hope you don’t mind.” 

“No, this is great.” Said Arthur as he grinned in a reassuring way to show he loved the idea. “I wouldn’t go hungry and Mithian wouldn’t have to hear my tummy grumble for the rest of the day.” 

He ticked Mordred’s sides and got a soft giggle from behind the pacifier. A wonderful sound to his ears as his day had been crummy so far. A good dose of his husband and little might make having to go back into the lioness den much easier to deal with. 

Once the boy had recovered from the attack, his lunch box was kindly handed over to him. Arthur then watched as Mordred pulling out a wallet from the back pocket of the jeans that the young man was wearing. A piece of paper was taken out of the wallet and Arthur could see temporary in bright red letters on it. 

“You and Papa went and got an ID card made.” Arthur said once the boy had handed him the paper which gave him an opportunity to see what it was. “That must mean the official form came in.” 

“It did.” Said Merlin who he could tell was excited while giving him another card. “This is yours to hold on to.” 

Arthur couldn’t help the huge grin that came to be on his face as he saw the card. This was turning out to be a better day than he had hoped. He careful refolded the paper to give back to Mordred so he could hold his official card. It just made everything feel real when he saw the writing on the card which said Daddy under his name. 

“I tried calling you earlier” said Arthur as he remembered what he needed to tell his husband. “I’m going to be late coming home. Big client is in the building and it might take a long time.” 

“I see” said Merlin who was hinting about something behind him. 

“Mr. Pendragon?” He heard and cringed inside for he knew it was from Annis Caerleon.

Had he really be gone too long for Leon to keep Mrs. Caerleon from coming out of the conference room? Arthur would slowly turned around to see her coming toward him and his family. However she didn’t seem as annoyed with him as he had imagined, if anything she looked pleased. 

“Merlin is that you?” Annis said once she had gotten closer to them. “It was smart of your foolish husband to bring you in.” 

“It is good to see you again, Mrs. Caerleon.” He heard his husband say. “I take it a new toy is giving you some trouble.” 

“Yes and I do hope you have time to sketch one of your beautiful designs for me. George just doesn’t seem to have the correct concept for this one.” Annis said who was actually smiling at the dark haired man. 

Arthur wanted to hit his head because of course his father would use Merlin’s designs to win over a customer just like him. How he wished Uther had told him beforehand so that his husband could have time to make a dozen or so sketch already. Luck seemed to be on his side at the moment as he saw the leather messenger bag Merlin was carrying. Knowing what was kept inside there, Arthur felt like the deal might just have been saved.

“Hello there sugar pie.” said Annis who had spotted Mordred next to him. “Do you want to come and play with a neat toy?” 

“I’m sure Mordred would like that” Said Merlin as he ushered her back toward the conference room. “Now tell me more about this model.” 

Arthur just felt a bit lost, how had his husband managed to take control of the situation. He could have sworn that Merlin had magic with the way the dark haired man could win people over. For he had used all of his charming ways on Mrs. Caerleon, she hadn’t even batted an eye at him this whole morning. 

 

He led by the hand, a tense Mordred into the conference room. Arthur swiftly moved them toward the test product to save the boy from further stress. As it didn’t really matter if Leon, his other staff members and Annis’s right hand people were introduced to the nervous young man. 

A set of soft animals sat perfectly perched at the end of the table waiting to be picked up and played with. Knowing the carpet had been vacuumed before the client had arrived earlier, Arthur grabbed an armful to place on the floor. Unwilling to leave Mordred alone, he sat on the soft plush carpet and was grateful when the boy followed his example. 

After helping Mordred take off the dark green messenger bag that the young man had been carrying, he showed off the animals hoping one would interest the boy. Arthur was not surprised when Mordred grabbed the stuffed dog and squeezed a paw. The young man seemed quite entertained by the item which played sound bits of classical music when different limbs were pressed. 

Then the boy did something that the research team had not anticipated. Mordred took out the pacifier, grabbed one of the dog’s ears, and started chewing on it. Apparently the soft textured material seemed to be appealing to the boy’s sore mouth. 

“Oh love, don’t do that.” Said Arthur as he started reached for the bag next to the young man to find a teething toy. “Daddy will get you something to bite on.” 

“No let him be.” He heard a voice from above him say and figure out it was Annis. “This is a wonderful turn of event. Those focus groups never go off the grid like this.” 

Arthur had not realized that the rest of the people in the conference room had been hovering over them. Of course his husband who was smiling at him had a sketch pad and pencil in hand. Most likely there had already been several ideas of a design and one must have gone over well with Annis. Since Arthur could see that she had a big smile upon her face. 

 

It wouldn’t be until two hours after getting his lunch box that Arthur would be able to sit down to eat the food out of it. Luckily Annis was thrilled with the idea of selling the toy as a teether as well. The concept had gone over so well that she had packed up her team and they had left to work on the product a while back. 

Merlin and Mordred had stayed a bit longer but had to head home for food themselves. The offer of them staying and grabbing lunch with him might have happened if he didn’t have paperwork to finish beforehand. His lunch hour, which his husband had figured out would have been in the nap time zone, was too risky to chance. 

They had no idea if Mordred would fall asleep during a car ride if it was around that point in time. It was something neither of them had experienced with the young man yet. Home being about an hour away give or take with traffic, was not an experiment Merlin had been willing to try today. 

Not wanting to have his little knight become cranky on his husband, Arthur had given one last kiss and hug to say bye to Mordred. Merlin gave him a quick peck on the lips before they headed toward the elevators and the journey back home. Hoping to get the remainder of his work done quickly so he could eat his lunch that had been brought to him, Arthur had set off to his office after they were out of sight. 

Arthur sat with his sister Morgana and his brother-in law in the cafeteria to eat his packed lunch. There he had found out why Mordred had so badly wanted him to have the red bag today. As he undid the zipper on the section which his sandwich was, a piece of black construction paper flew out and landed on the table. 

A written note was on the paper and he could tell it was his little boy’s handwriting. “Daddy, have a great day at work, Mordred” was scribbled in bright green crayon. Arthur could hear his sister coo as she read the note over his shoulder. He smiled down at the construction paper and took a picture to show Merlin later. For the piece of paper was going to stay at work, a nice spot on his desk most likely so he could look at it from time to time.


	11. The Afternoon Sidetrack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The afternoon was going so well but one phone call will change it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone,
> 
> Hope you all are doing well. Thanks you for all the kudos and comments! Have a wonderful day/night and please enjoy. 
> 
> This chapter has been beta by the awesome Littlewebby. So don't forget to give her some applause as well.
> 
> P.S. Please let me know if I am missing any Tags. Thanks!

May 24th 

Arthur was quite proud of himself as he sent off another e-mail to a client while sitting in his home office. If he kept this up, his inbox would be cleared and he could be done with work before a certain little woke up from nap time. Then the rest of the afternoon could be play time with Daddy without interruption before Merlin came home. 

He smiled at just the thought of getting to play with Mordred. Arthur had finally gotten time to stop at the toy store the other day, a new set of toy cars were waiting to be opened. A police car had been included in this pack which he was grateful for. It was getting kind of redundant to be pulled over by the black car that he always forgot about being an unmarked one. 

Then another idea hit him, they could go to the park. Mordred had a knack for climbing which the equipment at the park was good for. His little boy would be good and tired after some fun in the sun which Arthur knew his husband would appreciate. This way it would be easier for them to get the young man down for the night. Especially since Merlin had meetings with clients since seven this morning and was not likely to come home until six tonight at the earliest. 

Reading another e-mail from a client, Arthur shook his head at the craziness in the way people thought. How could he possibly be able to have his team do research if the customer wasn’t going to disclose what kind of product was being set up for advertisement. He groaned as he decided to send this e-mail off to be dealt with by customer service, since they would know how to handle this with better care than he would. 

Taking a break to listen for movement on the monitor he had remembered to grab from the master bedroom, Arthur checked to make sure Mordred was still sleeping. For there were only three more e-mails to go and judging by their titles, he could easily forward them to Leon, his right hand man for answering if need be. Hearing only the sound of soft breathing come back to his ears, Arthur decided to try finishing one more before waking the dozing young man. 

However that e-mail would have to wait as his phone started playing a ringtone that he dreaded. Mithian was calling him and if it was what Arthur thought the call was going to be about, there went his plans out the window. Taking a deep breath before grabbing his phone, Arthur answered as politely as he could to his secretary. 

Arthur felt distressed the moment she told him about the urgent meeting being set up by his father. It seemed all head of departments were being mandatorily asked to come to the top floor for an assembly with Uther. Knowing that sending Leon in his place would infuriate his old man, Arthur told her that he would be there for the five o’clock meeting. 

After hanging up with her, Arthur quickly messaged Merlin to find out how the consultations were going and how many more were left. In addition, he figured to check with the daycare program in case there was no reply from his husband. Luck was not on his side as a trip to the zoo was on the agenda for today which meant there would be no staff members at the office for him to drop off Mordred with. 

He left the room to take the home phone from the hallway off its dock to make a call to Gwen. Arthur knew she took every Tuesdays and Wednesdays off from her clinic. Plus there was the fact that Lance usually went little on those particular days which granted that she would be at home today. All he could hope for was that she would be willing to watch Mordred for a few hours. 

Feeling a message coming in, Arthur looked at his phone while listening to the ringing on the landline. He was so grateful to hear Gwen pick up that he almost forgot to say hello to her when it was his turn to speak. Arthur explained the situation to her and the fact that he had just gotten news from Merlin that his husband would be required at the meeting as well. 

Never before had he been so appreciative for having such wonderful friends as Gwen said yes to him. Arthur send off a text to tell Merlin of the strategy once he had hung up the land line. Still feeling like time was slipping away; he quickly went back to the office to close out his work e-mail as his phone went off again. 

Arthur could only sigh as his sister called to complain about the meeting that was about to take place. He knew Morgana was at the zoo and had been enjoying the day to relax and be little. For if it was anyone who needed the break after the auditors had come through, it was her. 

He explained to her that the auditors’ result had come in this morning which could explain for the assembly of higher ups. From what he had read in his email, the auditors had found a couple of minor issue that he figured could be easily fixed. On the plus side the company had still been able to keep their high level of credit. So the simply reasoning he could give her was that perhaps they had done well enough for bonuses as the last audit had been far worse than this one. 

“Daddy?” he heard from the monitor and cursed at not realizing Mordred had been awake. 

The fact that the young man had called out to him could only mean that the boy had been up from quite some time and was starting to worry about being alone for so long. Arthur dashed out of his office chair while trying to get off the phone with his sister. Unfortunately she seemed far too persistent that she still need to whine to him about the issue which resulted in him cringing before hanging up on her. 

He knew there would be hell to pay for that later but his little boy needed him which mattered more. Walking into the nursery, Arthur could tell that Mordred had been quite upset about waking up to find the room empty as there were tear tracks on the boy’s face. How Arthur felt idiotic for not setting up his laptop in the nursery and e-mailing from the rocking chair. That way he could have been there the moment his little boy stirred. 

“Hey buddy, sorry for delay.” Arthur said as he turned up the lights with the remote which was left on the dresser earlier. “I didn’t realize you were up already.” 

“It’s okay Daddy.” Said the young man who was sitting up and cuddling with Shadow the black stuffed dog. “You were working?” 

“Yes and I was on the phone with Auntie Gwen as well.” Said Arthur knowing he need to be gentle with telling the news he was about to deliver to the young man. “How do you feel about a play date with Cousin Lance?” 

Arthur watched as Mordred looked at him and then at the phone that he was ignoring. The young man seemed to be thinking while he let down the side of the crib. It was not a surprise to Arthur once the boy had gotten out of bed that the yellow card was placed onto of the dresser over the green. For it seemed Mordred had figured out just by observation the problem at hand. 

“You have to go to the office.” Said the young man while grabbing Stormy the stuffed dragon to snuggle with as well. 

“I’m sorry love.” Arthur said as he walked over toward the boy to give him a tight hug. “If I could have gotten out of this meeting, I would have.” 

“Papa has to go too?” Asked Mordred while returning his embrace and causing the two stuffed animals to be squished in-between them. 

“He does, its a very important meeting.” Said Arthur gently moved the brown hair away from the boy’s forehead to give him a reinsurance kiss. 

“So I will stay with Auntie Gwen and Cousin Lance until it’s over.” Said the boy who started playing with the buttons on his work shirt and seemed far too nervous. “Then I will get picked up to come home.” 

“That is the plan, love.” Said Arthur rubbing the young man’s back in hopes to calm Mordred. “Papa will come to get you.” 

“Really, I’m coming home with Papa?” Mordred said as the young man’s eyes light up at the mention of Merlin being the one to retrieve the boy. “Will you pinky swear?” 

“Yes, Love.” Said Arthur almost in a chuckle at the boy’s simple request. “If it will make you feel better about this.” 

Arthur extended out his pinky to the young man who quickly entwined them for the promise to be sealed. He would have to make sure to text his husband with this request so that his word was kept. Arthur knew that Merlin would understand the price that this might cost if it went undelivered. 

He feels horrible for having to leave the young man with Gwen. For yesterday had marked the one month anniversary of Mordred coming to live with Merlin and him. Not that they had made a big deal out of it or anything but it had been nice to see the date and know how far things had progressed since the start. 

Arthur worried that this might set back the trust that the young man had started to build with them as it would be the first time that Mordred would be left without his husband or him. The idea of abandonment seemed to plague the young man and Merlin had been telling him about the concern of separation anxiety. All Arthur could hope for was that Mordred knew how much he loved his little boy even if it was too early to say. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mordred had been okay when Daddy and Auntie Gwen were talking. It almost seemed like everything was the same as the last play date that had taken place with Lance. The few differences were that it was Daddy instead of Papa and Lance was letting him play with the toys owned by the other man. 

He was having fun and even giggled while stacking the rings with Lance. They had decided without speaking, as both had binkies, to place the wrong order upon the stand. It was an experiment of sorts as the top piece still fit and played music even with their incorrect set-up. Something he had figured wouldn’t have worked unless the proper approach had been taken. 

It was only after he heard the door close that the scary feeling started. Running to the window to wave bye to his daddy, made the only sense to him at that moment. He could feel the tears starting to fall when the Red Ford Mustang was pulling out of the driveway. The actual wailing didn’t happen until the car was no longer in sight. 

He would grant Auntie Gwen sainthood if he could for comforting him. She tried calming him down with softly spoken words and a kind embrace. He was still sobbing when they moved from the window to the living room. Even Lance had wanted to help by handing over a toy which caused him to give a small smile. 

Mordred was hoping to grab his phone as he moved toward his bag. However it would be difficult to reach the green messenger bag as Auntie Gwen kept steering him toward the couch. It was if she knew about his idea to call his Papa, for he had figured apologizing might fix things. 

This morning had not gone so well and he must have pushed the grumpiness a bit too far. Mordred had never thought that spilling a bowl of cereal would be his ticket out the door. He knew he could be a bother sometimes but maybe just maybe if he begged them that he would be better, his daddies would keep him. 

However once he had reached the sought after item, Mordred saw Stormy sticking out of the bag which changed his distressed thinking. He quickly sat down to unlock the flap and unzip the bag to grab the dragon for a cuddle which was badly needed at the moment. He felt himself relax when he smelled the fragrance of home on the creature’s fuzzy body. 

This led Mordred to remember about the story his daddies had told him even if it had been a bit distracting with Papa being shown on his phone. Mordred, a brave knight with his pet dragon would go on an adventure to a foreign territory. In the land of du Luc, they would meet a kind-hearted Queen and her noble knight to show them the way. Then they would eventually find the Warlock hidden in the woods to help them on the journey. Once at the castle of Pendragon, a king and trusted dog would welcome them with open arms. 

A sense of peacefulness washed over him for their words had given him a reminder. That his daddies weren’t leaving him for good nor were they upset with him; they just had an important meeting to attend. Something he had briefly forgotten as it had been clouded over by his conflicted feeling earlier. 

The fear and anxiety that he would be abandoned by people that he loved. Mordred had been burned far too many times in his life to have not felt that way after seeing Daddy’s car pulling away. It had been a familiar occurrence and part of him had just assumed the worst. 

Realizing that he had been panicking over his own imagination again, Mordred shook his head. Since his daddies had never shown any signs of not wanting him around. In addition, there was the fact that he had been with them for a month as of yesterday and the whole thing was going well in his eyes. 

Mordred blushed as he saw Auntie Gwen coming over to him with a tissue. He knew his face must be quite messy with all the tears that had fallen and his nose must have started running as it always did when he cried hard. Grateful that she just smiled at him and told him that everything was going to be okay, Mordred decided he didn’t need his phone after all. 

He would hand the found object laying on a set of clothes in his bag to Auntie Gwen. Mordred made sure it was alright with Stormy before they headed off toward the blanket to introduce his dragon to Cousin Lance. Auntie Gwen stopped him for a brief moment to show him a message that was on his phone from Papa. Any lingering doubt in the back of his mind dissolved as he saw the last part of the text with the heart and kissy face. 

 

Mordred was nervously sitting in the dining room with Lance. He looked over at the other man who was in a custom high chair. He knew that Uncle Percy must have made the special designed object and could only pray that Daddy and Papa didn’t get the idea of one. He already felt constricted as it was with his crib and the bathrooms being locked. 

Oh and how he grimaced at the thought of the potty. Papa had promised to come as soon as possible which had made him think it wouldn’t be that long of a stay earlier. So he had figured that there might have been a chance to get away without having to ask Auntie Gwen. However at this moment, he was starting to feel the need to go. 

Luckily, Auntie Gwen would come in with spaghetti and meatballs to distract him from his problem. Mordred thanked her as she placed a bowl in front of him. He had been worried when she had gone off to the kitchen before to make dinner. 

For him being over had not been planned and if there wasn’t enough, he would have understood. Auntie Gwen had just smiled at him while asking if his Papa made plenty of food to feed an army. Mordred had been a bit confused but knew there were always leftovers in their fridge. So he nodded at her and she told him that she was the same way. 

Then she explained that her young brother Elyan often came to town without much of a warning. So there was abundance of food in the pantry to feed the troops. Plus if the meeting that his daddies were in went into overtime, they would need to eat something as well. 

He was brought out of his thoughts of earlier as he dropped a piece of meatball that didn’t quite sit on his plastic handled fork correctly. He realized as he watched it hit the bib he was wearing that Auntie Gwen had been smart in placing the item on him. Bibs were not something that he wore at home and maybe his daddies should invest in them. He hadn’t always been messy but in green card mood, he had a tendency to stain a shirt or pair of sweatpants with food. 

Mordred slowed down his eating while curiously watching Auntie Gwen feed herself and Cousin Lance as well. He was glad that his daddies didn’t do that with him as he kind of liked the small amount of independence that he had. However it was interesting to see how different Lance was compared to him and that there wasn’t a set way of being little. 

There had been a worry of his for quite some time that he was not being the little that his daddies wanted. However as days turned into weeks, Mordred realized they never had a set way for him to live this lifestyle. It was quite refreshing to just be himself and do what he felt comfortable with. 

 

Watching Auntie Gwen doing the dishes only made the issue that Mordred was dealing with double tenfold. He was sitting on the blanket with Cousin Lance but had no desire to play with any of the toys laid out around him. He had wanted to call his daddies after dinner to figure out how much longer they would be but figured that they would be too busy to answer. 

Knowing that he had to be brave about this, Mordred got up to head toward Auntie Gwen. If he at least tried it would make him feel better even if the outcome was not in his favor in the end. Luck had been on his side at that moment as Auntie Gwen was just coming out of the kitchen wiping her hands with a dish towel. 

“Auntie Gwen?” he asked nervously and bit squirmish as well. “I have to go potty.” 

“Alright, sweetie." She said in a calm manner which Mordred was thankful for. “Let me just tell Lance so he doesn’t try to follow.” 

“Okay” said Mordred upbeat, for he had feared that she was going to refuse his request since Lance wore diapers. 

“Pumpkin, Mordred and I will be right back,” He heard her saying and watched the other man nodding at her. “He has to go pee-pee, okay” 

Mordred feels mortified at Auntie Gwen terminology and blushed when Cousin Lance looked over at him. He was a bit confused when she went into the kitchen before showing him where the bathroom was. Maybe that was where she kept her keys was his thought but then she just opened the door. So his theory was incorrect since the room hadn’t been locked. 

Once inside the bathroom, Mordred knew there was going to be trouble. For the dominating color of the bathroom turned out to be pink. Not something he could work with to distract him from his surroundings. The bathrooms at home were blue and green which gave easy images to deal through. 

The problem only got worse when Auntie Gwen pulled out a timer from the apron she had been wearing. She would explain to him that the clock would start when he was sitting on the potty. He had no idea what the reasoning was behind having a countdown. All it did was make him even more worried about the ability to go. 

Mordred would try everything and anything he knew to get liquid to hit water but nothing happened. The timer ticking away was distracting him from being able to put himself into another place. In addition, it was adding stress to an already frazzled mind. He felt like he was twisted in knots, unable to relax, and hearing the ringing of the countdown being over did nothing to make him feel better. 

Heading back to the living room, he felt defeated and worried as his need to go was still there. Auntie Gwen told him that they would try again and reset the timer for fifteen minutes. Knowing he had another chance made Mordred think maybe he could still get a star today. However he could feel the sweat starting to form as he felt a bit of pee leave his body and hit the already slightly damp pull-up. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Merlin was frustrated as he drove his Hyundai Tucson down the highway. He was beyond annoyed as he tried to pick up the pace to get to his little elf as quickly as possible. If only the car going forty in front of him would move out of the high speed lane. 

He knew it wasn’t the other person's fault for his mood, it just added on to it. For the meeting, if it could be called that, had really been a celebration of sorts. In the beginning minutes, Uther had acted like usual and was giving a grand speech. Then the waitress and waiters had come out with food and alcoholic beverages. Apparently, the company had done so well with the audit that the boss wanted to celebrate. 

The problem with that was Merlin had to cancel important consultations for this meeting. He'd had rather gotten work done than sit around feeding his face and getting tipsy. Plus there was Mordred who had gone through a traumatic event so his husband and he could be here for this so called urgent assembly. 

Unfortunately, being the husband of the boss’ son meant he couldn’t just get up and leave. There had to be some amount of mingling and small talk first. How things were going, baseball teams that he had no clue about, and what he was drinking were some of the countless questions he had to endure. Luckily, he could answer in quick secession of good, the Florida Gators were going to win the world globe and ice tea. 

By the time his patience was wearing thin, Arthur walked by and winked at him. Merlin could only smile at his husband for the code had been received and it meant he would have an opportunity to leave. Hearing the clinking of Arthur’s glass for an upcoming speech, he moved closer toward the door. His husband with the wonderful way of charming everyone with words dazzled the room to allow his slip out to go unnoticed. 

Blinking of out his thoughts about earlier, Merlin checked his speed to make sure he wasn’t about to get pulled over. That was something else that didn’t needed to happen today as he had already missed too much time with Mordred. From the text he was able to check before he started driving, his little had already had dinner and was probably going to be too tried for a bath. 

Seeing the exit he was going to take coming up, he turned on his turn signal to move into the other lane. Grateful that traffic hadn’t been a nightmare and the roadwork on the side road had finished already for the day. Merlin figure he could make it to Gwen’s house before Mordred fell asleep on the couch. 

 

Merlin had been slightly worried when he got to the steps for he wasn’t sure if ringing the bell was going to wake anyone up. Opting to text Gwen instead for safety, he waited patiently for her to let him in. Upon seeing her, Merlin saw a soft smile and knew something wasn’t quite right. 

Entering the house, Merlin realized there was an issue. For his little elf had not come running to greet him. He felt troubled that perhaps Mordred had done something that warranted a time out. As he could see the young man was sitting in a corner when he entered the living room. However Stormy was with the boy and that would not be the case if it was a punishment. 

“Did Mordred put himself in the corner?” asked Merlin as he walked into the living room. “Your texts seem to make it out like he was doing well.” 

“Yes, he did. He was fine but I think he might be wet” he heard Gwen say behind him. “He took his dragon over there just a few minutes ago.” 

“Are you sure?” question Merlin as he turned to her for Mordred had only had the one accident, the day with Arthur a few weeks ago.

“He asked me to go to the bathroom a little while ago.” Said Gwen speaking softly to him so little ears couldn’t listen. “But nothing happened; I put the timer on for fifteen minutes but it’s still going.” 

“Why did you use a timer?” question Merlin looking confused at her for Arthur and he had never done that with the young man. “Is that some kind of potty training technique?” 

“Oh, no wonder he looked so lost.” Said Gwen as it seemed a light bulb had gone off for her. “It's what Percy does with Gwaine, and I just thought Arthur and you had followed the same method.” 

“It’s okay Gwen, we never told you how things worked in our house.” Said Merlin placing a hand on her shoulder for she seemed displeased over what had happened. “We all learning here and Mordred will be alright.” 

“Thank you Merlin” said Gwen as she looked over toward Mordred. “Do you need some privacy?” 

“I think that might be a good idea.” Said Merlin while looking over at the Lance who was sitting on the blanket and yawning. “If you want to get Lance ready for bed, I can hopefully get Mordred changed.” 

“Sound like a plan.” Gwen said smiling at him before heading toward Lance. “Oh, by the way there's some spaghetti left over for you and Arthur.” 

Merlin nodded at her as he made his way over to Mordred. He could tell that the boy had been crying quietly and using the poor dragon as a tissue. Grabbing a few Kleenex to clean the young man’s face, Merlin kneeled down and sat on his feet. 

“Hey Sweetheart.” Said Merlin softly and he tried to give a reassuring smile to the young man. “Is something wrong?” 

“I’m yucky.” Mordred said looking up at him with sad blue eyes. “Stormy not happy with me.” 

“Well, Papa can fix that.” Said Merlin as he gently wiped away the tears on the boy’s face with a tissue while wondering how to get the young man to not be so upset with himself. “And Stormy needs to realize that you attempt your best but these things just happen from time to time.” 

“Auntie Gwen told you that I tried to go potty?” questioned the young man who Merlin could tell was five seconds away from a meltdown. “I couldn’t do it Papa, I’m sorry.” 

“I was told and you have nothing to be sorry for, Honey.” Said Merlin as he moved closer to the young man to wrap his arms around him for a much needed snuggle. “Papa’s words will always be the same.” 

 

Once Merlin had gotten Mordred to lie down on the changing pad in Gwen’s bathroom, he debated if it would be better to diaper the young man. Time was getting late as the young man cuddling the stuffed dragon was yawning and rubbing at his eyes. He moved things around in Mordred’s bag until he found success. 

For he had found a pair of jammies which would work well to explain to Mordred if need be why he had decided to put the boy into a diaper instead of a pull-up. Mind now firmly made up, Merlin reached for a diaper and knew the second it came out of the bag what his little one’s actions was going to be. 

“No Papa!” Said Mordred who sat up quickly when the young man saw the object in his hand. “I’ll try harder next time, please no diaper.” 

“Honey, it's close to sleepy bye.” Merlin said as he calmly got out the pair of pajamas to show Mordred. “Papa just wants to get you ready for bed.” 

“Still get to wear pull-ups?” questioned Mordred who slowly lay back down onto the pad. 

“Yes, tomorrow you will be in them again.” Said Merlin as he looked though the bag for a pacifier as he realized the boy didn’t have one. “Remember rule number 4.” 

“Oh.” Mordred said while taking the found object from him to be stuff into the boy’s mouth. 

Merlin waited until Mordred seemed distracted by the sucking of the binky before he started the task of removing the wet pull-up. He could see the boy's body starting to relax once the soiled garment was removed. Thinking nothing of it as the young man squirmed while he used a few wipes to clean the urine stained areas, Merlin worried more about the red sections that might be a rash forming.

Finding cream and using it on the boy resulted in a wiggling Mordred but Merlin had experience it all before with Lance, only gave words of encouragement. Something he knew the young man needed to be told as it seemed Mordred still thought they would eventually become outraged and disgusted by the young man’s actions. 

Knowing that it would take many more times before his words sunk in, Merlin figured he would make sure Mordred saw that Arthur and he would never give up on the young man. How he prayed that the young man would someday see his heart and the piece of it in which Mordred had. Since maybe then all the doubt and self-loathing in the boy might resolve. 

 

Driving home with his little had been quite an interesting experience in Merlin opinion. Mordred had been telling him all about the young man’s afternoon when yawning started interrupting the sentences. Then there was the repeating of words and quiet for a moment before the talking began again. Finally the boy had succumbed to the battle of sleep and was lightly snoring in the booster seat. 

Merlin took a sneak peak at the back seat to see his little elf dozing away. He felt bad for the stuffed dragon Stormy which was being used a pillow. However it was serene as he drove quietly toward their destination with the music on low. It came as surprise to him when he pulled into the drive to find Arthur’s red Ford Mustang in the driveway. 

He knew that it had been longer than he had expected to leave Gwen’s but not that late. Not wanting to be rude, Merlin had allowed her to chat while he ate. Since Merlin had left before the actual meal came at the so-called meeting and Gwen had been gracious enough to heat him a plate while he had been with Mordred. In addition, it allowed for Lance and his little boy to have one more bit of play time together. 

As he parked his Tucson next to the red car, Merlin felt concerned about waking up Mordred. He would not be able to pick up the young man like Arthur could. Luck was on his side as he saw the front door opened and realized his husband had been watching for them. 

He could only smile as the outside lights turned on with the motion of Arthur’s movement. For in his husband’s hand was Shadow the stuffed dog. The promise had been fulfilled, if only Mordred had been awake to see it. As if his thoughts were magic, the young man would stir when Arthur opened the back door of his SUV. 

“Daddy?” he heard the young man question softly and with lids half opened. “Is that you?” 

“Yes, it is Bud.” Arthur said as he gently undid the buckles on the booster seat “Shadow and I have been waiting for you and Papa to come home.” 

“Really?” Asked Mordred who placed arms around his husband’s neck as the blond haired man picked him up. 

“Yep, I missed you Love.” Said Arthur as the blond haired man carried his cargo while giving Merlin a quick peck as they made their way toward the house. 

 

Merlin felt peaceful as he took in the scenery around him. Since Mordred was too close to falling asleep again, Arthur and he had decided they could all sit on the couch for some cuddle time. Since the rocking chair was only build for two and the young man had gotten upset earlier when either one of them was out of the boy’s reach. 

Mordred was sitting in the middle of them and snuggling with the two prized stuffed animals in one arm. The boy’s feet were tucked underneath the young man and purposely press against him. While the brown haired man’s head was gently lying on Arthur’s shoulder. It seemed Mordred only felt secure enough to let the world of dreams take hold if parts were touching his daddies. As if to truly know they were both there and not going away any time soon. 

Merlin shook his head softly at his husband as he figured out what the boy was doing. From what he saw with the draining of the warm milk moving slowly, Mordred was trying to prolong the time with them for as long as the young man could. He too found himself wanting the clock to stop moving if only for a few seconds so they all could enjoy the calm and relaxing moment that was happening.


	12. Doctor, what’s for lunch?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It time for that check-up with Gaius and lunch after with Daddy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everyone,
> 
> Hope you all had a great week. Mine was a bit hectic since I have do have an audit coming up similar to Arthur's but much harder since I work for a small company. Okay, sorry for the complaining but I just want to give you all a heads up in case chapters stop being updated every week.
> 
> Thank you for all the comments and kudos. They are great and I am honored to be given them. So thank you again.
> 
> This chapter has been beta by the wonderful littlewebby who is taken time from her busy schedule to help me with editing. So many kudos and thanks should go to her as well.
> 
> Have a wonderful day/night and enjoy the chapter.

June 7th

Mordred was terrified as he sat in the waiting room of the doctor’s office. He knew that the gentleman was related to Merlin but it still didn’t help the anxiety that he felt. His left leg was shaking even though he was holding tightly to his Papa...No, Merlin’s hand.

He chewed on his lip as a way to remind himself that he needed to be an adult right now. At least if he could try to stay focused at the task in front of him, maybe it would be alright if it he was more in yellow mood than red. As long as he didn’t dip into green everything would be okay. 

Not that there would be a problem if he did become little, since there was a young lady wearing a pink cat shirt and had pig tail while sucking on a binky in the room. She was currently sitting on the floor playing with a doll house that had been from a box in the corner of the waiting area. So he knew the doctor was not going to have an issue with that aspect of his life. However there were things that he might have to explain to the nurse or doctor and his little self might not explain the issues as well. 

A good example was if they asked about the old burn mark on his right arm that he had gotten when taking meat out of an oven while working at the restaurant when he was eighteen. His little self might say it was just an accident but not really tell how it had happened. If the doctor thought Merlin and Arthur were abusive than he would get taken away and Mordred didn’t want that. 

Mordred could feel his cheeks heating up when his stomach growled as the person sitting next to him had looked over. It wasn’t his fault that he was hungry; a blood test had to be done during this physical. This meant he had not been allowed to eat after 8 p.m. yesterday. He was appreciative that Merlin had scheduled the appointment at the earliest time possible; the only meal he had to miss was breakfast. 

He had not realized how his body at adapted to his new environment. The three full meals and two snacks a day had made his belly grumpy when he went without. Before living with Arthur and Merlin, he had been able to go without food for an extended stretch in time. Now however it was hard to go even a few hours with munching on something. 

The same could be said with drinking as well. As he knew his throat was getting parched as he had only a cup of water earlier. Usually by this time, there would have been at least three empty sippy cups sitting on the kitchen counter waiting to be washed. Not that he was really complaining since his need to pee made wanting liquids undesirable at the moment. 

Since this examination was a physical, a urine sample was required as well and he could only hope the nurse called him soon. It would be an embarrassment if he had to meet the doctor while wearing a wet pull-up. The poking and prodding was going to be tough enough to deal with as it was and adding another problem was going to be his undoing. 

Luckily for him, Merlin had gotten up which must signify that the nurse had called for them. Mordred would follow the dark haired man until them came to the nice elderly woman who’s tag read Alice. Again he would blush when she took them to the end of the hallway toward a door with the bathroom sign and a plastic cup in her hand. 

He wondered if it was awkward for anyone else when she explained and gave directions. It wasn’t like he had never done this before and just because he was a little, didn’t make him inane in handling the simple mission. Nonetheless once left with just Merlin in the hallway, he felt doubt creep in as the nurse had walked away so he could have privacy to do his business. 

Grateful that Merlin seemed to understand that this was a solo operation, he was able to enter the bathroom alone. However he didn’t hear footsteps walking away which meant Merlin was waiting. It seemed his papa knew to stay put in case he needed help after all. Mordred felt calmer for the protection of sorts and was glad that there would be one less thing for him to worry about when he finally met the doctor. 

 

Having to answer the nurse's questions felt like a bombardment on his life, Mordred felt completely see-through like cellophane. It was one thing to tell a complete stranger but the fact that Merlin was in the room as well made it worse. Did they really need to know how much of a hermit he was before living with the wonderful couple? 

That he had not truly experienced living expect in the books he read before. How Mordred was just a vanilla ice cream lifestyle kind of person almost two months ago. He had never smoked, had a drop of alcohol, or a relationship on any level with anyone before. 

He just went to work, the library and then home. There had been no reason to venture out and be anything else than what he had been. Of course things were different now since he had chosen to open the door to the life of being a little. 

Then that information had to be explained to the nurse as well. Fortunately, Merlin would take over answering her many inquiries for him. Especially since he had no clue how much he ate during the day or the fluid ounces of liquid he drank. Even how many hours he slept was lost on him as it was not something he kept track of anymore. No being a little meant those issues were not his to worry about and he had actually let those things be handled by Arthur and Merlin. 

Mordred let out a sigh of relief when the nurse moved on from the questions to actual stuff like taking his blood pressure and temperature. This part he could handle as it was just minor details in the scheme of the visit. Especial since there had been no need to remove any article of clothing yet. 

Taking off his shoes to be weighted proved a bit of a challenge. He forgot about the high-tops sneakers on his feet. Mordred had gotten used to the Velcro ones that he could easily slip out of and felt silly for having Merlin help him. He realized that his papa had been correct earlier this morning about the other shoes being better to wear. If only he hadn’t been so persistent at being an adult and listened instead. 

He actually smiled when finding out that he had grown a few inches since his last height check from two years ago. Of course, Mordred knew he was not about to shoot up to being taller than Arthur or Merlin any time soon. However it was nice to know that he was five feet, ten inches compared to the couple’s six. 

The part that came next was a bit too overwhelming for him to handle alone. Luckily, it seemed that Papa had come to save him from this stressful ordeal. Merlin would join him on the examination table to calm him as Alice; the nurse decided it was time to take his blood. 

Tears started to form into his eyes as he saw the woman coming closer with a needle in hand. It was only his papa's quick thinking of distracting him with Shadow, who Mordred hadn’t even know had been in his bag that kept him from curling into himself. The stuffed dog would shower him with kisses and Papa’s voice took him away from the horror surrounding him. 

It was feeling the prick of the needle hitting his skin that brought him back to reality. Papa kept him from looking at what was going on and for that he was thankful. Mordred could hear the kind words of the nurse telling him it would be over soon and how courageous he was being. 

Mordred wanted to laugh at her statement for tears were streaming down his face. However he hadn’t lashed out, ran away, or screamed which could have been possible outcomes. Therefore he allowed himself to accept the description of how he had behaved even while hugging Shadow. 

He looked up at Papa who had given him a kiss on the forehead. The dark haired man seemed like a god in his eyes for even his fear of needles had only brought Merlin to him and not away. This made him feel better about this whole appointment for even with some of his secrets out in the open, his daddies would be with him no matter what. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Merlin had acted on pure instinct when he had seen his little boy’s eyes at the mention of the taking of blood. The part of adult Mordred that was hanging on to deal with this physical had disappeared in that moment. He had smartly brought the one thing that would help the young man in the situation at hand. 

Sitting on the examination table watching the boy cuddle Shadow only proved how correct he had been. He watched while his Aunt Alice was placing a bandage on Mordred’s arm and smiled at seeing the cartoon character. It seemed even she had noticed the switch that had occurred almost instantly before the drawing of blood had happened. 

Luckily for them, his Uncle Gaius was a general doctor and had experience with all sorts of lifestyles. The knowledge that man knew was beyond wisdom, the reason Merlin had set up the appointment in the first place. Since a specialist in little would have expected Mordred to be in that mood the whole appointment. Dealing with the fluctuation of the young’s man moods would have been out of that kind of doctor’s element. 

Merlin returned to sitting in the chair next to the table when he heard the sound of the door opening. He smiled at the older man entering the room, for his Uncle Gaius was like a father to him. It was amazing for Mordred to get the chance to meet a part of his family. A person who had been a big influence in his life and had never cared about the path he had chosen to live. 

“I see you still aren’t eating enough, Merlin.” Said his Uncle Gaius as the man closed the door to the room. 

“Actually dear, he’s gain six pounds since you saw him in February.” Alice said who gave him a wink before she started heading to the door. 

Merlin felt himself blushing at the married couple. How had this appointment turn into being about him had been his thought. For his uncle Gaius was giving him the look with the one raised eyebrow and nothing ever good came from that. 

“Mordred is my witness; I have breakfast in the morning. I swear Gaius.” Said Merlin looking toward his little elf in order to be saved from a long lecture. “Arthur doesn’t even have to call me anymore.” 

“Papa eats mushy cereal.” said the young man making a face toward his aunt and uncle. “He likes it like that.” 

Merlin felt the grin plaster on to his face at hearing Mordred’s words since he had figured the boy was just going to nod. It seemed the young man had wanted to defend his papa from them as if the couple was really upset with him. They had only been concerned about him since there had been a point in his life where nothing else matter but getting work done. 

However with Mordred in his life, he was doing better and things had slowed down. There was a purpose in his life to push the work aside to enjoy things again. Every moment spent with his little boy proved that his days of non stop working had been destructive and unnecessary. 

“I guess that makes you, Mordred” he heard his uncle saying to the young man. “I thought my nephew might have meant the dog.” 

Merlin was grateful that the boy would giggle at his uncle’s funky sense of humor. Perhaps it had been for the best that Mordred had gone down from the red card to a yellowish green mood. There was still a bit of hesitation from the young man to be fully in the green. However it was going to make this physical easier on all of them if the boy did. 

“This is Shadow.” Mordred said to his uncle showing off the stuffed dog. “She’s a Scottie.” 

“Well it’s nice to meet you Shadow.” Said Gaius who shook the dog’s paw before grabbing the stethoscope that had been around the man’s neck. “I think it would be a good idea if we check her heart. What do you think?” 

Merlin watched as Mordred would nod before the examination of Shadow and the young man began. It seemed his uncle had quite an experience with littles. Since the man had been able to get Mordred’s vitals by the magic of making everything into a game. The scary medical tools turned into fun objects to check Shadow with before being used on his little elf by his uncle. 

 

It was getting toward the end of the examination and everything was going well. That is until he saw his Aunt Alice coming back into the room. She would come over toward him and whisper into his ear that Mordred need a tetanus booster shot. The boy’s records which were faxed in earlier had shown that it was long overdue which meant it had to be done today. 

Merlin decided to rejoin his little on the examination table after hearing the news. Mordred had nearly panicked over the needle from earlier, so there was no way he could allow for the boy to see this one. If he could make it so the young man didn’t know what happened until after, it would be in everyone interest. 

“Should we check my knees as well?” questioned Merlin to the young man who was using the reflex hammer on Shadow’s appendages. “Maybe we should see Daddy after this and tell him all about our check up.” 

Looking into the boy’s eyes, Merlin knew he found the correct form of distraction. Mordred would move closer to him while asking if they could go to lunch with Daddy as they had rain checked on his husband the last time, Merlin agreed. Then the conversation flowed on if they should meet Arthur somewhere or go to his work. 

Grateful that his uncle had figured out his method to keep Mordred busy, he watched as Gaius prepared the boy’s shoulder for the shot. The alcohol sting took away the young man’s attention and Merlin had to grab it back by talking about what kind of snack the boy wanted after the examination. Luck was on his side as he had his bag on him to show the different options for Mordred to pick. This would keep the boy from seeing the needle as it was injected. 

It was only after the initial pinch that the boy’s head would whip around to look over at what had occurred. He had figured Mordred would have felt betrayed and wanted nothing to do with him. However the young man would prove him wrong by reaching for his free hand. Merlin spoke soft words of praise until the injection was complete. 

He used his thumb to wipe away the stray tears on the boy’s face but overall he was quite proud of how well Mordred had done. Merlin had been troubled for days thinking that this appointment would end with a screaming and terrified little. Thankfully for him, the young man had risen to the occasion and out done both Lance and Gwaine. Since, it had been the other males’ parents who told him about the horrors that occurred during doctor visits. 

“We’re all done.” He heard his Uncle Gaius say to them as the man handed Mordred a lollipop. 

The young man would look over at him, confused about the object. Merlin made sure to smile and nod while packing up anything that was theirs. There was a blue pacifier on the floor that would have to be sanitized at home and somehow a bag of goldfish had hopped out of his bag and landed on the table. 

“Oh dear, you should give him two.” Said Aunt Alice whom he could see was going for the jar that was next to the tongue depressors. “His dog was a behaved patient as well.” 

“Ah, yes. You are correct my dove.” Gaius said who shocked Merlin by smiling at Mordred. “The dog was by far my best patient.” 

Perhaps the couple had been awestruck with Mordred just like Arthur and him were all those months ago. For his uncle and aunt might be wonderful people, they would not have easily show parts of their true self to others like this. Merlin was glad to see that his family was just as happy with this new development in his life as he was. 

“So we are all set to go?” asked Merlin as he grabbed Mordred’s bag off the floor. 

“Yes, my boy.” said Gaius as he came over to receive a hug. “I have tortured your little long enough.” 

“We will have the test results in about a week or so.” Alice said as she moved toward Mordred for a hug and to sneakily award the boy with the second lollipop that was still in her hand. 

“From what I can tell, everything should be fine.” Said Gaius before the man gave him a quick look over and a frown. “Just get more greens in his diet; you might want to do the same.” 

“What for?” asked Merlin as he helped Mordred with the wrapper on one of the lollipops. 

“You both have whiteness in the lips area, a clear sign of Iron deficiency.” Gaius said while giving him the look of you better do as I say. 

Merlin knowing all too well what his uncle would do if he didn’t heed the man’s ordered. So he would agree to make sure that he added more iron enriched items into the meals at home. He wondered how he was going to break the news to his husband, since Arthur was not into the whole rabbit food kind of style meals. The blond haired man could and would live off of cookies if it was allowed. 

He made sure that Mordred waved bye to both of his aunt and uncle on their way out since the boy was far too interested with the lollipop to speak. Merlin added a reminder in his phone to send a thank you card. His family had gone beyond the call of doctor and nurse to make Mordred feel welcomed and even show that the boy was accepted by them as a little. 

Something that he knew the young man had been nervous about as well. Even if the boy hadn’t showed it, Merlin could tell now because Mordred was cuddling Shadow and skipping towards the car. Since the boy would never had been so openly little in front of the public eye before. He could only laugh as Mordred turned back to him with a hurry up expression. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Arthur was in a pretty good mood as he walked out of his office. The workload was a bit slow today which meant he could take a two hour lunch break and no one would be the wiser. He checked his phone to see if there were any incoming messages before heading downstairs toward floor 3 since Leon and his sister were waiting for him there. 

He frowned at himself for not thinking about texting his husband sooner to meet up for lunch. It was early as it was only 11a.m which would give plenty of time for Merlin to get back on the road before Mordred’s nap time. However there was no way that his brother-in-law and Morgana would be able to wait. The daycare center had a sign in/sign out sheet which would give away how long she had taken away from the building. 

It seemed that luck was on his side today, the elevator opened with his two favorite people in the whole world inside. He could only smirk at seeing Mordred’s dark red lips as he entered the elevator and greeted them. Arthur knew that the doctor appointment must have gone fine for Gaius only gave lollipops to well behaved patients. 

On the way down to floor 3, Merlin would start telling him how things with Gaius had gone. Mordred spoke up about how Shadow got a check up too with the young man being her doctor. Then his husband explained in a whisper to him about the shot. He apologized for not being there with them for that as it might have been helped to have two parents instead of one. Especially with the way things were today at work, it would have been a perfect day for him to have taken off. 

His husband just smiled at him and told him that it was okay as the elevator dinged to indicate that they were at the third floor. The door opened to greet them with the sight of Morgana and Leon. Of course Morgana’s face lit up on the sight of Mordred. 

She ran into the elevator to give the young man a hug and almost left Leon behind. Since the door was starting to close before Leon woke from the stupor that the curly haired man had been in. Arthur knew why Leon had reacted in such a way, for Morgana in this mode was never this excited about seeing another little. 

Morgana had a few friends at the daycare center that Arthur knew of. However it seemed she was taken a special interest in Mordred. She was even polite about Shadow the stuffed dog who was being held by the young man. This was a interesting development as Morgana in little mode was older than the rest of the group, this lead to her having a tendency to be rude about the stuff that she considered babyish. 

Since Morgana’s was in the child stage of littles, there was less want for parent involvement and more of a push to be independent. She didn’t see hand holding as a need but often did it to make Leon happy. She had never been one for sippy cups, bottles, or absorbent types of undergarments. So she had an inclination to make snide remarks when given the chance to..

The same could be said about Gwaine who was a toddler stage little and frown upon soft toys and blankets. Something that Lance’s group of baby stage littles thrived upon which caused for there to be issue when the two male friends got together. Arthur was thankful that even at toddler stage, Mordred didn’t show preference to which faction was better like the other members of their group often did.

 

Merlin and he were surprised when Morgana asked if Mordred could ride with Leon and her to the restaurant, once the elevator had reached the bottom floor. Arthur would have to explain to her that Uncle Merlin had the car seat for Mordred in the Tucson. Apparently not wanting to leave the young man’s side, Morgana would ask if she could ride with them instead. 

Leon, who had been listening to the conversation, told them it was fine with him. Since Morgana was in a different class of little than Mordred, her booster seat was just a base with handles that would use the car’s seat belt. It proved no challenge to remove from Leon’s car to the Tucson which happened to be close by.

Arthur could say he was a bit envious of Leon since Mordred’s car seat was an actual seat with several straps attached to the SUV’s backseat. In addition, the buckling system took time to figure out which went where and what not and his little was better at it than him or Merlin. However Arthur knew he wouldn’t change the way that Mordred had regressed or the age group that the young man had taken. 

For it may seem easier having a little like Morgana, it was far more rewarding with his own. There were certainly parts that he would miss if the boy had been in the same range as her. Plus his sister wasn’t as much of a cuddler like Mordred and Arthur liked his time on the sofa or rocking chair with the young man. 

 

Arthur could only chuckle when they were sitting down at the restaurant, for Morgana had wormed her way into being able to sit next to Mordred. He looked over at the young man to see if there might be an issue with the seating arrangement. However it seemed that the boy didn’t mind since Merlin was across the table from Mordred and he was on the other side of the young man. 

He would grin as the waitress in a polite manner and was pleased that she got his message to leave them to decide on their drink order alone. For he knew that Mordred might have a difficult time choosing, an additional audience member was not going to help. It seemed that problem would be resolved by Merlin before he could even try to whittle down the options with the boy. 

His husband pulled out a lunch bag from the green messenger bag, from which he had taken out enclosed juice containers. Arthur was a bit confused for a moment as to why Merlin had brought the lunch bag along to meet up with him for lunch before remembering the doctor visit. It then dawned on him when he saw the bandage on Mordred’s lower arm about how the boy had needed to fast for tests that were required by Gaius’s office. 

“Don’t give him that, Uncle Mer.” Piped in Morgana who had been busy coloring in the little’s menu that the waitress had given her and Mordred. “They give cups with lids and straws here.” 

“Mordred doesn’t do so well with paper cups, he tends to drop them.” Said Merlin as his husband smiled at her while offering a sippy cup filled with orange juice to their little one. “It’s better if we use cups with handles with him.” 

“But the little drinks come with colored changing straws.” Said Morgana who Arthur could tell was starting to get upset that her decision was being fought.

Arthur knew he had to think of something to change Morgana’s mind on Mordred getting a restaurant cup. Since Morgana was that type of person that usually always got her way, it might get dicey if she thought she wasn’t winning the battle. He looked over at Leon for help and could tell that the man was stressed trying to figure out what to say to calm her. 

“Morgana, I’m sure Mordred would have liked to have gotten a cool straw just like the one you are going to get.” Said Arthur who was still debating with himself on what to tell her when he noticed what she was wearing. “However the worry of spilling it and hitting your pretty princess dress might keep him from drinking from it.” 

“Oh, I didn’t think of it that way.” Morgana said who looked down at her dress before returning her gaze toward him. “That makes sense Uncle Art. I’m sorry for troubling you, Mordred.” 

Arthur glanced over from his sister to Mordred who he could tell hadn’t been paying attention to the conversation. Since the young man only gave a confused look at her when she placed her hand on top of Mordred’s before looking up at him. From what he could figure out, the boy had been debating on what to order from the menu. 

Something he knew might not happen as Mordred still had trouble with two choices and this was a whole list of selection. It was a work in progress when it came to getting the young man to decide between things. Only recently had there been movement, for Mordred had asked if grape jelly could be placed on the toast that was being buttered just the other day. 

Of course there was still the other issue with how the young man never told them of dislikes and ate or drank whatever was handed out. Since Arthur knew for a fact that the boy was not a fan of cranberry juice after watching Mordred push the cup filled with it as far away as possible. However Merlin and he had yet to be able to prove to the young man that it was okay not to eat or drink something that wasn’t liked. 

“What do you think, Daddy?” he heard Merlin question which brought him out of his head. 

“Huh, sorry I didn’t hear you.” Said Arthur who gave his husband a puzzled look and realized the waitress must have come by as there was a coffee next to him. “What did you ask, darling?” 

“Mordred and I were going over the menu.” Said Merlin showing him the yet to be colored menu that had X’s on some of the food options. “We figured out that macaroni and cheese would be a good choice.” 

“Well, he does take after me with the love of it.” Arthur said while grinning at the young man in a reassuring way. “Just a warning, it’s not going to be as good as Papa’s.” 

“You are such a prat.” Said Merlin who sighed and he could tell seemed annoyed with him. “I just got him to decide; now he's going to take it back.” 

“Oh no, People who adore Mac and Cheese will get it, when and where they can.” Arthur said as he winked at Mordred before turning toward his husband. “It will have to do until you make us another batch. Mordred just lucky his menu has that as an option since mine doesn’t.” 

“Can share Daddy.” Said Mordred softly to him as the young man took the menu back from Merlin. 

“That’s alright, love” Said Arthur while he tickled the boy’s side to get a giggle. “I’m sure Papa will be making it really soon, especially if I keep bug him about it.” 

“Okay.” Said Mordred who he watched grab a crayon to start coloring. 

He looked over at his husband who expression could be described similar to the cat that got the cream. Arthur, himself was quite pleased with how the first trip to a restaurant was turning out. For Merlin and he had decided not to eat out at a sit down place until Mordred felt more comfortable with being little in public. 

Since the young man still had a tendency to go without a pacifier clip and leave the binky in the car, if a trip to a store was needed. However it seemed with Morgana showing the way, Mordred was seeing that appearance didn’t matter to other people as much as the boy had been worrying about. Her bright clothes and attitude had made an impression on the young man that showing a different side to you didn’t make the world stop spinning. 

Arthur would smile while watching the scene around him for this was a wonderful moment. Everyone around him was having a good time even if Merlin was eating a salad. Something he would have to ask the dark haired man about later tonight. For now all that mattered to him was making sure to steal a tiny bit of Mordred’s macaroni and cheese.


	13. Father’s Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today is a very special day which Mordred want everything to go perfectly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Everyone,
> 
> I hope you are all doing well. I just want to thank you all for the kudos and comments. They are awesome and keep me going. Chapter 13 popped in my head weeks ago and I knew it had to be written. So enjoy and please let me know if there are any missing tags.
> 
> P.S. This has been beta by littlewebby

June 19th

Mordred woke up from a deep sleep with a startle as a deafening rumbling occurred. Seeing a flash of light, he realized a storm had blown in. Another clap of thunder caused him to jump and reach out of his cocoon of blanket for a stuffed animal to hold. He had never been too fond of loud noises and a whimper left him before he realized it had happened. 

The only solution he could come up with was taking the blanket and pulling it over his head while clutching his two stuffies. Mordred found the binky he had before falling asleep to stuff into his mouth for comfort. Since part of him wanted to call out while the other didn’t want to wake up his daddies. 

He had glanced at the clock briefly before covering himself and knew it was only one in the morning. In his mind that was far too early to get anyone else out of bed. Not that they wouldn’t come if he did call out but today was a special day which made it hard to decide what to do. 

The calendar on the wall had been marked with a circle around this day by him because it was Father’s day. The one day of the year to celebrate dads. 

Auntie Gwen had been adamant that he needed to make it awesome since it would be his daddies’ first one. The gift hidden in the downstairs closet were from her and had been dropped off yesterday during his play date with Lance. 

Mordred was a bit concerned that Papa had figured out the reason for the meet up. However the dark haired man was not surprised when Gwen had offered to come over to their house for the play date. So maybe there was nothing to worry about since Papa hadn’t seen the bag with the gifts enter the house.

He was thankful that Lance was able to keep Merlin distracted long enough for him to so-called 'help' Auntie Gwen. She was a genius by telling his papa that the gifts were for Lance's upcoming birthday that need to be hidden. It seemed like a believable story to him once Papa had talked about the time Lance had found all the Christmas presents under the guestroom’s bed. 

Of course, he was nervous of the fact that his daddies might not like the gifts and the fact that mugs could be smashed. Mordred had wanted to just make cards for them which he had done yesterday. However Auntie Gwen had told him it needed to be extra special weeks ago when he had been over her house. 

Not that he hadn’t agreed with her but cards could be thrown out discreetly if need be. For Mordred had already experienced a Father’s Day that didn’t go well, he knew how loud a sound a dropped cup makes. The first and only Father’s Day that he had celebrated with a foster family was still branded in his brain. 

He had been five at the time and the foster mom had been telling him for months that he was going to be her son. At that age, he had been naive enough to believe every word that came out of her mouth. She even told everyone at the store when they had picked up the #1 Dad mug it was from him and he was the couple’s child. 

Mordred had been so excited about giving the gift as the foster mom had talked up the hype for several days before the actual day arrived. He had even signed the card that she had purchased with his best penmanship that could be mustered at five. It was like looking at a beautiful sunrise and then watching the storm clouds move in to darken the sky. 

The foster dad had not been happy with the mug and promptly smacked it onto the ground. At the time, Mordred had been too upset to understand why the man hated the present. It was only later in the day when the foster mom came to talk to him that he found out what had been the problem. 

It would be one of his heartbreaking experience, the foster dad hadn’t wanted to celebrate the first milestone Father’s day with someone else's unwanted child. Apparently the foster mom had hoped to adopt him and have the baby she was carrying, so she kept the pregnancy a secret from her husband. Unfortunately, the man had answered the phone from the doctor which clued the foster dad in. 

By dinner time that night, Mordred would find himself leaving the house. For the foster dad’s mind had been changed about the idea of helping children without parents. It seemed a child of the man’s own was more significant than the small kid who had been falling in love with the couple. 

“Mordred?” he heard being called out as he blinked away the past. 

He hadn’t realized that he had been sobbing while going down memory lane. Of course, the sound from him had been heard through the monitor and woken up somebody. Mordred quickly took off the blanket from his head to stare at not just one but both parents. 

“I’m sorry. So sorry.” Said Mordred to them as the horror of waking them up filled him. “I didn’t mean to wake you.” 

“Its okay, Love.” Said Arthur who smiled at him while ruffling his hair. “The storm is raging out there pretty fiercely” 

Mordred realized at that moment that they thought he was crying over the storm. He had been scared about the loud thunder and bright lightning which had been happening. So it might be better to go with that than to tell them what he was dealing with inside his head. However he knew that opening up to his daddies would be good for him but decided it would have to wait until there was a better time. 

“It’s scary sounding.” Said Mordred who unintentionally jumped when a crash was heard but was glad it happened to prove his point. 

“Papa’s poor little elf.” Merlin said who undid the latches on the side of the crib to cuddle with him. “Daddy and I are here to make you feel safe.” 

“But you should be sleeping.” Mordred said softly while he gazed over at Papa before looking to Daddy to see that they both had exhausted looking eyes. 

“I don’t think anyone could sleep though this storm, love.” Said Arthur as Daddy came to join in the snuggling in the crib fest. 

Mordred felt better and grateful to Merlin after a diaper change. For his papa could have just left it for morning and gone back to bed. However he needed to remember that it didn’t work like that here with his daddies. Even if it was going to be two months in a few days, he still had trouble believing the crazy wonderful world that he had stepped into. 

The storm outside had lessened and no longer could thunder be heard. Therefore his daddies had deemed it time to go back to bed. A non squishy diaper would help him in his way to find dreamland. Although, Daddy had been talking about a bottle of warm milk and who could say no to that. 

So Mordred would follow the blond haired man down to the kitchen. He laughed when Papa entered and told Daddy to go sit down or go back to bed. It seemed that Papa was wide awake and in no mood for Arthur to leave the bottle warmer on all night to burn out like the first one had, the thing was going to sit idle. 

Mordred was a bit confused as Daddy sat down next to him to wait for Papa to make the warm milk. It was funny to him, how they talked and even banter with their usual words of 'prat' and 'idiot' while stifling yawns and drooping eyes. How blessed he felt when he realized that they were staying up to be with him and make sure everything was okay. 

Lightning starts up again as Mordred and his daddies were climbing the stair to the second floor. The clap of thunder that came after caused him to drop the bottle of milk. He would grab on to the nearest person who happened to be Papa and watch as Daddy went to retrieve the rolling-down-the-stairs bottle. 

He was a bit hesitant to go into the nursery to sleep all alone so he held tightly to Papa as another roar came. If the dark haired man would just lay down with him like nap time, going back to sleep wouldn’t seem so scary. However his papa would steer him toward the master bedroom which was a bit puzzling. 

“It’s been a rough night, don’t you think so Sweetheart.” Said his papa moving them towards his daddies’ bed. 

“Yes, Papa.” Mordred said who was grateful to not be left by himself. 

“So maybe this once, it would be okay to sleep with Daddy and me.” Said Papa as the dark haired man pushed back the comforter to allow him to climb in. “Is that alright with you, Daddy?” 

“That’s fine with me.” Daddy said who waited for him to be situated in the middle of the bed before handing over the bottle of warm milk. 

Never before had this happened to Mordred and it was a magnificent moment to see that even when tired, his papa and daddy were there for him. It seemed even sleep deprivation wasn’t going to stop the couple from loving him. He could truly see it in their drowsy smiles as he was drinking his bottle of milk. While losing the fight with keeping his eyes open, the only thing he thought of was that the mugs Auntie Gwen had gotten were going to be great presents for his papa and daddy as they are the best parents in the world.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Merlin was having the most wonderful dream about his family playing in the backyard. However the scene would change to them in the house eating breakfast which seemed weird to him. It was the smell of bacon hitting him strong, that caused his eyes to quickly open. In a sense of worry he scrambled out of bed to run downstairs towards the kitchen. 

He knew about Arthur wanting to do something special for this day but never imagined the blond haired man would want to cook for him. Merlin had done the whole breakfast in bed when he was a young lad for his mother. So it was a sort of tradition for him that his husband would know about. However, burning the house down was not something that they needed. 

The shock on his face was evident when he noticed Mordred at the stove. Then he heard the snoring coming from the monitor on the counter and realized Arthur was still in bed asleep. It took his brain a second more to notice that the young man was looking over at him with a scowl. 

“You were supposed to stay in bed.” Said Mordred who was holding a spatula and wearing one of his aprons. 

“I smelled the bacon.” Said Merlin confused before remembering that Mordred had gone to bed with them late last night and not back in the nursery. “I feared Daddy was making a mess.” 

“But I left the red card and a note about a surprise. “ Mordred said while adding slices of bacon to the frying pan. “It was going to be special even Gwen liked my idea.” 

“I’m sorry, honey.” Said Merlin realized the hurt in the boy’s eyes when Mordred turned to face him again. “Arthur’s still asleep, if it helps we can make breakfast together. Okay?” 

The boy nodded at him before returning to the task at hand. Merlin was still puzzled on how Mordred had been able to get free from the middle of the bed without waking Arthur or him as he took an apron off the hook. Plus there was the fact that Mordred had showered, as the boy’s hair was still wet. Plenty of time to pass that he should have felt the loss of warmth from the body that had been snuggled up to his. 

Merlin was grabbing the eggs when a thought occurred to him; Mordred was dressed like an old version of the boy. The young man was wearing torn jeans and a t-shirt that had seen better days. He realized that Mordred had gone into the back of the closet in the nursery where things from the boy’s apartment were kept. 

He wondered if he should be concerned but then noticed the slippers upon the boy’s feet. The ones that Merlin had purchased months ago and just reminded him that his little boy was still here just being big at the moment. Of course not one to take chances, Merlin would quickly hug attack the young man who was moving toward the sink and give a pat to the butt to check. 

The padding he felt only confirmed that there was nothing to fret about. The upset red card mood Mordred was another story, for if looks could throw daggers he would be pinned to the wall. The young man would sign in frustration at him before walking back to the frying bacon on the stove. 

“Sorry, sweetheart. I just had to make sure.” Merlin said apologetically while grabbing a big bowl from a cabinet to break eggs into. 

“It’s fine. Just ask next time.” Said Mordred as the young man was placing the done bacon onto a plate. “I would have told you the truth.” 

“If that’s the case, can I ask why you are wearing those particular clothes?” Merlin questioned cautiously as he started whisking the eggs to make scrambled eggs with. 

“I didn’t want to get any of my good clothes dirty. I forgot that there were aprons until I was down here.” Said the boy who had moved on to putting bread in the toaster. “I already wasted enough time and feared someone would wake up before I got to cooking so I just stayed like this.” 

“I see.” Said Merlin who had found the pan he was searching for and was satisfied with the answer. 

He was just about to put butter in the saucepan to start on the scrambled eggs when he heard the sniffle. Merlin looked over at Mordred who had been watching the progress of the toast, to find that the boy had regressed. It seemed his little elf had burned the toast and with everything apparently going wrong in the young man’s mind; Mordred had gone down to the yellow card and was weeping. 

“Hey, don’t cry. It is going to be okay, Sweetheart.” Said Merlin quickly placed the pan on the stove to go over to the sad faced young man. “I have a plan to fix this.” 

“It was going to be perfect.” Mordred sobbed into his shirt while hugging him. “I wanted to make this day special for Daddy and you, Papa.” 

“Oh Honey, you make everyday special for Daddy and me.” Said Merlin who was rubbing the young man’s back. 

“How?” Asked Mordred in a curious way and looked up at him. 

“By just being you.” Merlin said while giving the young man a supportive kiss on the forehead. 

“But that doesn’t make sense” Said Mordred giving him a confused frown. 

“It’s like Stormy and Shadow. They are a normal fixture in your day but you still feel that rush of awe when you see them. Merlin said while tickling the boy to brighten the atmosphere. “Well that’s how Daddy and I feel at any given moment when we look at you.” 

Hearing the giggling sound emerge from the young man, Merlin smiled for he knew everything was going to be alright. He tasted one of the pieces of bacon that Mordred had made when he was going back toward the stove and found that they were done extremely well. Perhaps he would have to let the young man help him in the kitchen from time to time. 

 

Merlin would save the day with an old trick that his mother had taught him years ago. He would scrap the burn sections, resulting in good as new toast even if it was kind of thin. The burn crumbled bread was saved by him on a plate for later. 

For Merlin had decided that Mordred and he could have an adventure looking for pine cones in the backyard this afternoon. They would mix the bits of scraped off toast with bird seed that he knew was down in the basement. Then the concoction would be stuck to the pine cones with peanut butter, a fun craft project that didn’t leave anything to waste. 

However at the moment, he was more concerned with not dropping the food on top of the tray he was carrying up the stairs. He smiled thankfully at Mordred as the young man had ran up the stairs in front of him to open the master bedroom door. The boy would beam at him as he walked past for the breakfast in bed plan was still going to happen. 

The darkness of the room hit him when Mordred closed the door. The curtains had been drawn closed last night to help block the noise and the bright lightning from the storm. He careful placed the tray on the top of the tall dresser in the room in order to bring in some sunshine. 

Merlin felt the warmth of the sun as he drew back the curtains. Of course the light hit Arthur who groaned at the suddenly brightness to the room. He watched at his husband tried to roll over but was stuck because Mordred had climbed onto the bed and was too close to the blond haired man. 

“Wake up, Daddy.” Said Mordred as the young man was lightly shaking Arthur. “Surprise time.” 

“I can’t.” said Arthur who he could see had opened one eye before quickly closing it. “I’m under a spell.”

“I’m sure we can find a way to get Daddy up if we work together.” Merlin said thinking that if they both tickled his husband; the blond haired man would jolt up. 

“No, me do.” Said Mordred as the young man kissed Arthur’s forehead. “I wake the sleeping king.” 

Merlin was slightly taken aback at the young man’s action as he sat upon the bed. He knew his husband felt the same way as Arthur had swiftly woken up from the lazy pretence sleeping. For Mordred had never given them that kind of affection before and he wasn’t even sure if it would be repeated, perhaps they had watched too many Disney movies. 

Sleeping Beauty and Snow White had just been on the roster of new movies that Mordred had seen. The boy could just be imitating the certain scene were the prince kisses the princess to wake them. However the boy had gone for the forehead much like the way they gave the young man kisses. 

“I think Papa's under a stuck spell.” He heard his husband saying Mordred. “You’re going to have to fix that too.” 

“Really?” Mordred said who looked over toward him with a slightly confused face. “An evil sorcerer?” 

“I think so” said Arthur and Merlin knew he had to stay still now. 

He watched as the young man crawled toward him, Merlin wondered if he was going to receive the same treatment as Arthur. Mordred was grinning from ear to ear at him and had to stand up since he was still sitting. He never realized how wonderful it would be when he felt the young man placing a kiss on his forehead as well. 

“I save the warlock too.” Mordred said who had decided to sit down next to him to cuddle. “Now we do breakfast in bed?” 

“Yes, Honey.” Merlin said as he was still in a state of bliss over the new development with the young man. “Papa will grab it.” 

Merlin waited a few more seconds to share his moment with the young man before getting up to retrieve the tray on the dresser to bring over to Arthur. He saw his husband’s huge grin and waited for Mordred to settle next to the blond haired man before putting down the tray full of eggs, toast, and bacon. In addition there were two mugs of coffee and a sippy cup of apple juice. 

Arthur of course had given him a look while taking a piece of toast and he would make sure to explain to his husband later. For this moment was too precious to worry or care about anything except to enjoying it. Not even the crumbs that were falling on the comforter and sheets were a fret to him right now. There were smiles on everyone’s face and wonderful tasting food to be shared instead.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Arthur was quite content as he sat down on the sofa with his husband and little boy this afternoon. The day as a whole was turning out to be amazing as there was fun times had by all. He was still shocked that Merlin had allowed breakfast in bed. 

Of course, the bedding was stripped off once everyone was done eating and moving on to do other things like getting a shower or dressed in more little attire. For Mordred had been changed out of red mood style clothing into more easy to pull down and comfort sweatpants. The shirt the boy was wearing only made him laugh on the inside for that green dragon shirt was already losing its color and part of the dragon. 

Thankfully Merlin had purchased that shirt on-line and could easily get a replacement. It seemed even though the boy had the same designed shirt in blue and red, the green one always won out over the other colors. Which made sense as it was Mordred’s favorite color but perhaps they need to work the color wheel a little more even if Merlin had certain days for each color. 

Green just popped up a bit too much for his liking, maybe red needed to be more than one day a week. Plus other creatures could get some respect like the lion on the shirt that he had picked out for the young man. Then Arthur wondered why he was so caught up with what the boy wore, it really wasn’t a contest between him and Merlin. It was just a tiny bit annoying that his husband was winning. 

Arthur’s mind drifted away from that issue since he was still in bliss over what had happened earlier.The kiss from Mordred had to be the highlight of both his and Merlin’s day as of yet. For he had seen the way his husband practically floated around in a cloud of glee. Of course the same could be said about him as well but he was more refined about it and did more of a happy dance in his head instead.

His thoughts were interrupted by Mordred getting up quickly to run off to the hallway. Arthur and his husband shared a puzzled look at each other for the disappearance of the young man. He would turn toward the television screen to see if there was a clue and only saw the characters talking about gifts. 

Mordred would return with a bag in each hand and give Merlin a blue colored one. He watched his husband to see what was inside but it seemed that he had to have his bag as well to open the presents. The young man would give him a red colored bag that said 'Daddy' in marker on it. 

He wondered how Mordred had been able to give them gifts. The boy was never out of their sight for that long except maybe for sleeping. Plus there was no way the young man would have realized a cell phone could be used for online ordering. Arthur looked closer at the way his parent name had been written and realized Gwen had to be the culprit. 

Arthur remembered that Merlin had mentioned her earlier when they had been alone in the kitchen together while Mordred was playing with a train set in the living room. Gwen had been the one who had told their little that a surprise meal would be a great idea for Father’s day. So it was no revelation that she was involved with the bearing of gifts. 

“Arthur, Mordred wants us to open them together.” He heard his husband say and realized he had been staring at his husband waiting for the dark haired man to go first. 

“Sorry, Love.” Said Arthur toward Mordred who he could tell was quite edgy. “Daddy usually lets Papa go first since he is the younger out of the two of us.” 

“Just because I’m the younger one doesn’t make me inpatient to open a present.” Said Merlin as the dark haired man gave him a glare. 

“I’m only going by the rules of the youngest opening first. “Said Arthur in a matter of fact way. 

“You and your rules” Merlin said to him while rolling eyes. “Such a prat some days” 

“Presents please.” Said Mordred loudly who was still standing in front of them nervously and he suddenly felt bad for making the young man wait for them. 

“Okay, sweetheart.” Said Merlin as the dark haired man grabbed the young man’s hand to give it a squeeze. “Daddy and I apologize for being rude to you.” 

“On the count of three.” Arthur said to get the present opening going to keep Mordred from stressing out any longer. “One…Two…Three.” 

Arthur quickly removes the tissue paper inside the bag to pull out a coffee mug. He is blown away at the gift for there's a picture of Mordred and him on it. There was writing in the boy’s handwriting on the cup that tells of him being the best daddy in the world. 

He looks over at Merlin who has found a mug in the blue bag as well. However the picture is different which shows his husband and Mordred together. Arthur has to squint just a bit as the cup was turned away from him to read the words 'Best Papa in the World' scribbled out by the young man. 

Knowing that the boy is worried about whether they like the presents or not, Arthur gest up to give Mordred a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. He beaming at just the thought of jealousy he was going to instill on his co-workers tomorrow. For this mug was going to go to work with him and be carried around wherever he has to go. 

Of course, Arthur kind of wanted to keep the mug here to be a match with Merlin’s. Since his husband technically didn’t have a real office desk at work and often used his. He wondered if Gwen would give him the name of the website that she had ordered the mugs from so that an order for a second one might be placed. Then he could get another for Merlin as well since the dark haired man had a tendency to drop things in the kitchen like nice mugs. 

“These are wonderful.” Said Merlin as his husband comes to join them in the hugging. “Papa loves them. Thank you, Sweetheart.” 

Arthur looks over at Merlin and realized there's a traveling mug in the dark haired man’s left hand that is similar to his husband’s coffee cup. He leaves the love fest to reach into his own bag to find there was something else in the bag. He beams at the fact that he doesn’t have to choose where his cup resided since there was one that stayed at home and one that could go to work. 

 

Later that night when Mordred is tucked away and fast asleep in the crib, Arthur and Merlin decide to face time with Gwen to thank her for the wonderful gifts. She would make a squeal of delight at them as they described the event before composing herself. It seemed she had been planning these presents for well over a year. Arthur figures it was around the time they had told their friends about wanting a little. 

She explained how they had made it easy for her by asking her to watch Mordred that one day in May. It had been the best way to get the young man's opinion and not have Arthur and Merlin around to get suspicious about what was going on. She would go on to tell them how Mordred had written the wording on the mugs as none of the actual choices seemed to fit them. 

Merlin and he would thank her again before the call was ended as it was getting late and all of them had work in the morning. Arthur went into the kitchen to grab his now-washed new travel mug to make sure it would be used. He didn’t want Mordred to think he didn’t like it and leaving the cup at home tomorrow would not be a good thing. 

His husband and he had already used their coffee mugs the first chance they could to show Mordred how much the presents were appreciated. The young man broke down in tears when they both had come to the kitchen table for lunch with the mugs full of coffee. Mordred would explain to them about the memory that was haunting him. 

Arthur made sure to tell the young man about his many failed Father’s day with his own flesh and blood. Merlin even talked about how not having a father, usually made this day very hard since it was always a reminder how he had never met the man. It seemed sharing the past made all of them feel better about things in retrospect. 

Arthur smiled as he watched his husband grab the two new favorite cups off the mug rack. He figured out what Merlin was doing and went to sit at the kitchen table waiting for his mug of milk. They would share a late night snack of cookies that Merlin and Mordred had made together this afternoon. 

Both of them were content with how the day had gone and were discussing about the highlights. Of course, everyday with their little could be described as a wonderful day in his eyes. For Mordred had brightened their dull boring lives and filled the void within their hearts.


	14. Beautiful Colors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A play date with Morgana has finally arrived. Plus there some fun time with Mordred getting to experience his first fireworks show.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Everyone,
> 
> Hope you are doing well. I apologies for not having an update last week, life was just wacky and I'm sure you don't want to know all the craziness. So Thank you for all the kudos and comments, they are awesome and I enjoy them very much. Please enjoy this chapter and let me know if there are any tags that I might have missed. 
> 
> P.S. This chapter has been edited by the wonderful and super busy littlewebbie. I thank her for all the hard work as well.

July 2nd

Arthur would be lying if he told anyone that he wasn’t excited as they pulled up to Leon’s and Morgana’s house. For tonight was going to be the first fireworks show that Mordred had ever been to and he was eager on seeing how the boy reacted. Arthur loved watching fireworks himself, whether it happened to be on the television, in the distance, or a feet away.

He knew that his husband was worried about the sound but Arthur figured the awe of the display would distract from the bangs. Of course, he brought ear plugs for safety as it might be proven that he was wrong. In addition, the fact that Merlin was always extra prepared meant there was a backup plan to his backup plan.

Morgana would greet them as they were exiting Merlin’s Tucson and was quite animated. Arthur figured it was most likely due to her at last getting to play with Mordred. He turned when he heard footsteps to see Leon coming toward them with a smile. Apparently this sort of family gathering for fun and dinner before the fireworks was going to turn out to be one of his husband’s greatest ideas.

He shook his head at Mordred who had already undone the buckles to the booster seat when Arthur had opened the backdoor. As long as his little knight didn’t start making a habit out of it, he would allow this to go without punishment. For Arthur could tell by just looking at the young man, Mordred was just as fired up about tonight as he was.

“Daddy helped me cleaned up my doll house and we found my costume box.” Morgana said to them as she came over to Mordred and him with a crown in hand. “Momo can be a prince since I’m a princess.”

“As long as Mordred doesn’t mind playing dress up.” Said Arthur as he was helping the young man out of the SUV and grabbed the boy’s bag. “What do you say, Love.”

“Don’t know how to be a prince, Daddy.” Said Mordred who he knew was looking at him for guidance.

“I’m sure you will make a great one.” Arthur said as he took the crown from Morgana to place upon the boy’s head. “Just have fun.”

“Okay.” Said Mordred while the young man smiled at him before turning to Morgana.

Arthur watched as Morgana walked over toward the boy slowly as if afraid the young man would just disappear before taking Mordred’s hands into her own. She started to lead the young man toward the house’s front door before switching direction. There was a tall wooden fence surrendering the area of the backyard and a side gate next to the garage that allowed entrance to it. He would follow the duo of littles through that way to make sure nothing went awry.

 

The doll house, as Morgana called it was more like a shed; a one room building that was six feet by eight. It was given to his sister by Leon as a birthday present years ago. Percival and Gwaine had been kind enough to design it similar in style to the house and if wasn’t for the pink interior, most would just think it was a tool-shed.

“My daddy and yours will be our knights.” He heard Morgana say as she was leading the boy toward the playhouse. “Uncle Mer will be our manservant.”

“But Papa is a warlock.” Said Mordred as the young man came to a stop and Arthur could see the confusion on the young man’s face. “And Daddy’s a king.”

Arthur could only chuckle at the fact the Mordred had kept them as the role of the story that had been told months ago. He knew the boy had used the characters before but had assumed it was a daddies and little thing only. Never did Arthur figuring that the young man would be adamant about keeping those particular roles with others.

“Both our daddies can be kings from other castles who are knights.” Morgana said to Mordred while looking over at him for approval. “Uncle Merlin must be a magical servant who serves us dinner cause he makes the best food.”

“I have solved the great puzzle.” He heard Leon say which caused him to turn his attention toward the curly haired man. “Merlin use enchantments when cooking. No wonder I can never out do him.”

Arthur would laugh at his oldest of friends’ so-called epiphany as they made their way toward the picnic table next to the playhouse. This way they could both keep an eye on the little ones running about insuring that no fights broke out or injuries occurred. He figured Merlin was too busy making the sides to go with the brisket that was being smoked by Leon’s fancy grill to join them.

Chit chatting with Leon about life was blissful as he heard giggling coming from the dollhouse’s opened windows. After a while, Arthur decided to go check on Merlin to see if his husband needed help with the food. However Mordred came running toward him, which puzzled him since the young man had seemed to be in good spirits.

“Did Papa pack Stormy?” Asked the young man whose gaze moved to the green messenger bag by his feet. “We need a dragon.”

“I think he’s in your overnight bag.” Arthur said as he opened the flap to show that there was no stuffed animal’s head poking out.

“Oh.” Said Mordred as the boy’s smiled turned into a crescent frown. “Told Morgana that I had him.”

“Buddy, Stormy is just inside the house or might still be in the car.” Said Arthur while hugging the young man to keep the tears from starting as he could see they were only a moment away. “Daddy will go get him. You stay here with Uncle Leon and Morgana.”

 

Arthur entered the sliding door to the house to find that Merlin was like a bumblebee quickly moving from one section of the kitchen to the next. His husband would give him a gentle smile as he came closer and gave the dark haired man a peck on the cheek for being so wonderful to offer to make food at another person's home. They could have just reheated Merlin’s macaroni and cheese and put a cover over the salad but his husband had wanted everything to be freshly made.

Plus they knew this house like it was their own for how often they had been here. Merlin and he had babysat Morgana often when Leon had to go away on business trips. His sister was not comfortable with the other parents in the group when it came to the moment where daddy was missed the most, bed time.

Arthur and his husband always allowed her to sleep with one or both of them at night. To Morgana that was a much better idea than being alone in her big scary bed. Something they must have been so used to doing with her that it just happened to transfer to how they were with Mordred.

“Are our bags upstairs?” Asked Arthur to his husband when he remembered why he had entered the house.

“They’re in the hallway, dear.” Merlin said who turned away from the chopped up tomatoes to look over at him with an apologetic look. “I told Leon just to put them there so he could join you.”

“That’s fine. I just need to grab something.” Said Arthur giving his husband another kiss before walking out of the kitchen to grab the sought after dragon.

Once in the hallway, Arthur located the bag with the cartoon characters plastered upon. He opened the bag and was surprised to find that Shadow and Stormy were right on top. Of course, Arthur knew there had to be a reason for the two stuffies coming with for the night at Uncle Leon’s house.

Since the fireworks wouldn’t start until around 10 and traffic once it's over was a nightmare, his husband and he had always stayed with his brother-in-law and sister afterwards. Besides they lived two hours away from the stadium which was only a five minute walk from here. So their options were either get home at two in the morning or let Mordred get to experience a sleepover of sorts.

 

It seemed Stormy was no longer needed as he found Mordred and Morgana taking turns kicking a pink bouncy ball. Leon gave him a look of been there done that while he came over to join the curly haired man. Of course, their conversation was quickly interrupted by his sister and little who wanted the stuffed dragon to resume their quest.

Allowing Stormy to be taken by Mordred, Arthur offered to help Leon with setting up the picnic table. Both men assumed the littles would be fine for a few moments to get the necessary items from the house. However that would be proven wrong for the three grownups would find a crying Mordred and a grumpy looking Morgana, as they entered the back yard from the sliding door with all of their arms full.

Upon seeing Merlin and him, Mordred who was cuddling Stormy tightly came toward them. Luckily for both of them, the picnic table wasn’t that far off and Arthur was quickly able to put down his buddle of stuff. Unlike Merlin who was carrying actually food while he just had simple objects like plates, silverware, and the napkin holder.

“She was going to hurt him.” Cried Mordred as the boy came into his opened arms for needed comfort. “Made Stormy wicked.”

“Oh, Love. I’m sure Morgana was just pretending.” Said Arthur rubbing the young man’s back for reassurance. “Nothing was going to happen to him.”

“She wanted to cut off his wings.” Hiccupped Mordred as the boy hugged him back. “Still under a spell.”

“Stormy has been cursed?” Asked Arthur realizing that his little thought it was for real and the dragon was evil now. “What do you usually do to fix that?”

He watched as Mordred eyes light up at the prospect of there being a cure. The young man gave the stuffed dragon several kisses and even a few on the wings. Thankfully for him, Merlin who has his arms free would come over and give a complete inspection of Stormy for their little boy.

“I think Stormy is even better than before.” Said Merlin as his husband handed over the dragon to Mordred. “Maybe we should let him go back to being with Shadow.”

“She misses him.” He heard Mordred say as the boy was following Merlin toward the house.

Arthur let out a sign of relieve for the crisis had being resolved. He was a bit taken back when Morgana apologized to him and asked for a hug of forgiveness. She would do the same with Mordred and Merlin when they returned. It seemed Leon had explained that the dragon was important to the young man like her doll.

Sometimes he forgot that the simple things could cause such issues between littles. Worry took over as he realized there was going to be four of them together for the first time at the fireworks show. Of course, five adults should be able to keep watchful eyes to keep fights and total meltdowns from happening. So Arthur could hope that nothing catastrophic would occur, since he wanted Mordred to enjoy this special occasion.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Mordred was having a fine time dancing in the grass with Morgana, he doesn’t know the song that’s being played but it has a good beat. His papa sat next to them in a lawn chair as they wait for the sky to get darker and the lights to go out. He had been anxious on the way to the stadium before but was having fun at this moment.

He still felt a bit foolish for having to take a time out when he arguing about his attire that he was wearing now. Mordred had wanted to keep on his stretchy waist band shorts, t-shirt, and his high top sneakers from the daytime even with the dirt and grass stains. Of course, Papa and Daddy won the battle with putting him in jammies and his Velcro light up shoes.

See other littles and the rest of the group dressed similar, Mordred had realized he had just been afraid of being laughed at. However no one had said anything about his clothes or the dog clip with the ribbon that had an attached binky when meeting his friends here. Lance was even playing with a set of blocks on one of the many laid out blankets and didn’t seem to care about onlookers.

For Mordred could sense the eyes upon them but Morgana had told him it didn’t matter. Something that he was starting to get used to, not worrying about what the public thought about him. Since why be consider about what others said when the two main people in his life loved him for who he was.

Just thinking of his daddies, Mordred would stop his flaying of arms and moving of feet. He turned to see that Papa was reading a book but had looked up often to make sure he was doing okay. Daddy and Uncle Leon was walking back to the group’s section of grass on the stadium’s field with food and refreshments.

Delicious looking treats that Mordred had never had before were presented to him. His daddies in his mind were awesome for allowing him to try their snacks. First was a small section of the fried dough with powdered sugar that Daddy was eating in pieces. Then some kettle popcorn that made a crunch was handed to him by Papa. Lastly given to him was his own bag of cotton candy in multicolored fluffy of pink, blue, and a few spots of purple.

Taking a sip of Daddy’s frozen icy lemonade; Mordred felt a small twinge in his bladder. Papa had promise he could tell them if the bathroom was needed when he was being diapered at Uncle Leon’s and Cousin Morgana's house. Nonetheless, Mordred had no desire to walk all the way to where he had seen the restrooms at.

There were far more exciting things for him to do to want to leave. Like play with Gwaine and their plastic swords that Uncle Percival had gotten them. Beside what if the fireworks started while Papa and he were moving in the opposite direction to the potties and he missed the display. Fearing that would most likely be the case he told himself the only option was to ignore this particular issue.

Another dilemma however could not be shoved to the side and that was the ache in his mouth. Auntie Gwen had looked over his teeth weeks ago at her office during an examination. Which led to Papa explain to him that the bottom wisdom ones were going to be removed at a later day as they were growing in wrong but at this moment he wished the top ones were as well since they were painful.

“What has Daddy told you, Love?” Questioned Daddy grabbing his hands before Mordred had a chance to put his fingers into his mouth to gnaw on them.

“Tell you if in pain.” Said Mordred as he frowned towards his daddies and tried to come up with a reason for his action. “But too early for gel.”

“We understand, Sweetheart. You will get some ointment before bedtime like usually.” Papa said who gave him the pink strawberry teething toy, his favorite which must have come from his green bag. “But you know that’s not the answer Daddy is looking for.”

“Not to hurt me.” Said Mordred looking at the ground for he remembered that chewing on his fingers broke that rule and perhaps telling his daddies for a toy was an ideal option. “Sorry Daddy, Sorry Papa.”

“You don’t have to say sorry, Buddy.” Daddy said who tilted his chin up to make him look into the blond haired man’s eyes. “Just try to do better, Okay.”

Mordred would nod at his daddy while putting the teether in his mouth for a much needed gnaw. He had forgotten how self harm was a big no-no with his daddies because they tend to catch him biting on his fingers, nails, or lips. They kept reminding him how he was supposed to love himself. Something that Mordred was still learning to do, his self-worth had taken hit after hit for years and he had only been with his daddies for a short time to try and understand how important he really was.

 

A Star shining back at him is what Mordred saw the next time he looked up at the sky. He realized it had grown darker quickly and his anxiety started to rise. For Papa had told him earlier in the day how the lights in the stadium would go out and make the whole place pitch black. It wasn’t that he was afraid of the dark since he had on his light up shoes, more the fact of being apart from his daddies.

At the current moment, he was standing on the track section that was surrounding the stadium’s field, a good distance away from the group’s blankets and lawn chairs. Since Morgana and Gwaine had gotten into an argument about who was the fastest runner after one of them had noticed other littles racing on the red rubber like surface.

Mordred who had been playing with Lance had asked why they didn’t just go over and find out who really was the fastest instead of quarrelling about it. Of course, it wasn’t in that many words as he had trouble trying to form a sentence in little mood. However, he had to speak up for he had noticed the loud and harsh words were upsetting Lance and he didn’t want anyone’s night get ruined over pettiness.

Uncle Percy would get up from the blanket with Muppets to be the starter for their official race. Daddy and Uncle Leon were begged by Morgana and Gwaine until the men gave in to be judges because two sets of eyes were better than one. Plus he would tag along to be in the race since one of his daddies was going to be there and maybe he wanted to show off.

However the race which had been won by Morgana had been over for quite some time now. He, himself had come in last but would shrug it off as he had never tried ran at full speed in his attire before. Daddy would leave them once the race was done and now he wished he had followed instead of stayed to see if they could run again.

Gwaine had been bugging for a rematch and Mordred wanted to try again as well. He hoped to figure out what went wrong with his running form during the first time. Since he had not realized how wide his stance was when he wore a diaper. In addition, the bang that came from Uncle Percy had spooked him causing a delay in his start.

Unfortunately, Uncle Leon would be greeted by another gentleman walking by that it seemed the curly haired man knew. A conversation has formed and everyone else found others to chat with. Like the pretty girl named Freya that Morgana was speaking to or the lady who Uncle Percy and Gwaine were conversing with.

Mordred had never been one to walk up to a person and start talking so he was waiting until everyone was ready to return to the rest of the group in the grass. Of course if one of the adults started moving toward his destination, he planned to follow. Mainly because he had promised his daddies that he would stay with an adult member of the group at all times.

However one section of the many lights above the stadium would go out and he would feel the panic began. For what if he was stuck here without his daddies when the fireworks show began? Even with the glow in the dark necklace around his neck, there would be no way of finding the group’s layout when it became pitch black.

Plus what if he got separated from Uncle Percy and Uncle Leon, for he was not comfortable with holding their hands yet. Mordred feared getting lost in the sea of people that were walking around him and it felt like the stadium was growing. For Papa and Daddy seemed farther away than they had earlier when he had last looked over.

So he tugged on Uncle Percy’s leg in order to get the tall man’s attention as it was rude to interrupt. He tried waiting but watch in horror as another set of lighting grew dim from across the way. He looked over to the lights above where he was standing and realized it would be the next to go. Not wanting to be left here any longer, Mordred made a dash to where he could see his daddies.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Merlin was almost finished with his book and hoped to be done before the lights were completely gone. However, he would see Arthur quickly get up and rush off in the direction of the track. Dropping the book on the blanket like it burned him; Merlin stood up from his lawn chair to find Mordred running towards them.

From what he saw it looked like Mordred was terrified and perhaps he should have gotten up earlier to retrieve the young man from the track. Merlin felt like hitting himself with his discarded book since he knew that Mordred was afraid of total darkness. The main reason there was the dragon nightlight in the nursery and why he had bought the light up necklace for his little elf.

Merlin watched as Percival nabbed the young man, luckily stopping Mordred from tripping over a persons’ oversize bag that had been in the boy’s path. The rest of group was behind them and had been trying to catch up with his run away little. From his location, it appeared that Mordred’s take off had startled all of them.

His husband would meet up with the group half way between their location and the track. Merlin figured that whatever had frightened the young man must have been about Arthur and him since the boy looked relieved once the blond haired man was with Mordred. He even saw his little give a nervous laugh when Percy offered to give the young man a piggy back ride.

However Merlin would watch as the boy refused the idea in order to hold Arthur’s hand. It was not a surprise to him when Mordred got close enough to leave his husband to run the last few inches to him. Luckily, he moved away from his chair to prepare for the crash that was about to happen.

A new set of tears would fall from the boy’s face as Mordred grabbed onto him. Words of comfort with a soft rocking motion would help calm down the distressed young man slightly. Arthur joined them to add more reassurance to the crying little and he watched as his husband kissed the back of Mordred’s head.

“What’s got my little elf all upset?” said Merlin trying to figure what had brought on the waterworks.

“I’m sorry Papa.” Said the young man who nervous looking up at him and hiccupped.

“It’s alright, Honey. You got scared with the lights going out.” Said Merlin figuring Mordred was worried about being in trouble for not following the rules. “Daddy and Papa aren’t mad.”

He noticed that the tension in the boy didn’t leave and a blush appeared on the young man’s face. Merlin realized there must be another issue at hand; something that Mordred always felt needed an apology for. So nodding at his husband to let go from their hug fest, Merlin would grab the green messenger bag to take the young man to the bathroom for a quick change.

 

Four sets of stadium lights were still on when Merlin with his little one returned to the group’s location. Arthur would greet Shadow the stuffed dog being hugged by Mordred, who had been hiding in the green diaper bag for such an occurrence. For Merlin and his husband had figured the boy was going to be too distracted by the environment to stop for a potty break.

It was something that had started to happen lately with Mordred as the stars on the calendar were missing spots. The need to go to the bathroom was being forgone in favor of playing a few minutes longer or watching the end of the TV show that was being played. Arthur and he had no concern over the latest development since it meant Mordred was becoming comfortable with them to regress further.

As he sat back down in his chair, Percy would come over to apology for Mordred’s flight. It seemed the tall man had been talking to a woman who owned a small daycare facility for non center littles. Knowing how hard it was to find a place that would take Gwaine in, Merlin told the gentle giant that it was alright.

After all Arthur and he should have been with their little boy during this event, even if it was a tag team system. It showed their inexperience as they had assumed Mordred would be okay with other grownups as long as they were in view. How wrong the two of them had been with that especially knowing that Mordred had a tendency to go quiet when around others.

Of course, this led the conversation around to flow about past fireworks show incidences. Like the one where Gwaine had eaten too much and gotten sick all over the blankets before the last light went out. There was the time that Morgana had followed the wrong person after a visit to the restrooms and end up with a different group of people. In addition, the event two years ago when Lance had smacked his head into Merlin’s when they were reaching for something and both got a nose bleed. 

Merlin was just about to tell about the show where it started to rain at the end when his train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a whistle. He realized it was going to cause a boom to occur and braced himself when the firework emerged. However the same could not be said for Mordred who jumped and didn’t not awe at the dazzling display like the rest.

The look on the boy’s face propped him into action. For a meltdown before the real show even started would not be good. Merlin grabbed a pair of Bluetooth headphones that he had packed for safely. He shook his head at his husband who was trying to give the young man a set of earplugs.

Merlin knew from past trials that Arthur’s method would not work to help drown out the booming noise. Since even he was not a fan of the loud noise that came before the beautiful color in the sky appeared. Merlin handed over the headphones after syncing them to the boy’s phone that he had luckily found in the green bag.

He was thankful for the random person who lived near the stadium. For the spontaneous pre-show had allowed them to settle Mordred down to enjoy the real thing. The music playing would only give an enhanced experience and make the show seem magical.

 

Merlin took out a second set of headphones to sync with his own phone as the last light went out. He knew Arthur couldn’t make fun of him this year for having them like in the past. For the items had saved the day and seeing Mordred face light up with wonder was far more important.

After the first bright line was going up into the sky, he pressed both phones to play the _Stars and Stripes Forever_. The upbeat tune would block the bangs from the fireworks and go well with the flow of the displayed. Of course, Merlin made sure to save the best song for last with the finale started by playing the last minute of the _1812 overture_ minus the canons for an obvious reason.

 

A small chuckle escaped from Merlin as he heard Mordred still chatting animatedly to Morgana about the fireworks display that had finished 20 minutes ago as they were walking into Leon’s and Morgana’s home. It seemed the boy’s batteries had been recharged after watching the event. Unfortunate for Arthur and him this meant getting the young man to sleep was going to be a challenge.

However Leon suggested letting the two littles run around in the backyard with the floodlight on. The energy from all the sugary treats and amazing spender would be burned off in no time flat. Plus by then perhaps the traffic out front would ease up as honking and shouting could still be heard.

The three adults would sit at the picnic table with cold drinks of lemonade, ice tea, or a bit of both as Merlin liked to mix the two. They toasted to another successful fireworks show where everyone was happy and joist at the end. Of course, Leon would bring up the fact that the new member of the group was a perfect addition to the colorful bunch.

This brought tears to his eyes as Merlin remembered how last year had been quite hard on everyone. It was the first year with Gwen and Lance as a married coupled and a bit awkward for his husband and him to be around the man as a little. Morgana had been mad about her family being hurt while Gwaine was sort of stuck in the middle. It had been a real struggle not to get up and leave before the show started that night.

However everything was different a year later, Mordred had been an interesting newbie as stated by Leon. The curly haired man went on to say how great it was to have someone there who played with all of the other littles. Merlin hadn’t realized what Leon had said was true until he looked back on the night, he even recalled Mordred getting in the middle a few times between Morgana and Gwaine to keep the peace.

Particular the part when the whole nickname issue that had sparked the moment Gwaine said Mor. His little elf had quickly dissolved the arguing littles on which was better by saying that it didn’t matter as long as it wasn’t a rude name like freak. Upon hearing that word, Morgana had hugged the boy and Gwaine made Percival buy swords as a roundabout apology .

Remembering the plastic green dueling toy, Merlin wonder were that had gone to. For Mordred had been quite protective of the item earlier in the evening. He even got up to go into the house to look for the sword for fear that once Mordred realized it was gone, the tears would flow.

However before he could move to the sliding door, Merlin spotted the boy with the certain item in hand running towards the dollhouse. He watched as Morgana came up from the other side of the oak tree in the yard to sneak attack the young man. Merlin could only grin at the yelp the boy made and the sight of Morgana chasing her “Momo” across the grass.

Merlin grabbed his phone to take a quick photo as Morgana was dueling Mordred with a fairy wand. To him these were the memories that needed capturing to be retold to others. The one time the young knight took down the mighty princess and only got a hug in retaliation.


	15. Let’s take it back to the start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today marks three months of Mordred being with his daddies and some things come to light about the past for all three men.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everyone,
> 
> I hope you are all doing well. I had a great week as the audit went well and decide to post a few hours earlier than usually. Thanks you for all the kudos and comments, I am thrilled every time I see them. I hope you all enjoy this next chapter and have a great night!
> 
> P.S. This has been beta by the wonderful littlewebby. So don't forget to give her some applause for dealing with my spelling errors. Thanks!

July 23th 

Merlin knew he shouldn’t be in the nursery at this late of an hour. However the nightmare that had woken him was jarring which made the need to check on his little boy necessary. Arthur had warned him that the chances of rousing the young man from slumber were very high. Nevertheless he had gone in without worry if Mordred woke up, for it would give him an excuse to cuddle the boy. Something that at the moment, he felt might be needed after what his mind had done to him. 

His horrible dream had tortured him with images of his little elf leaving the house in regular clothing and vowing to never come back. The boy would call him a terrible Papa and explain that everything had just been an act. The worst part came at the end when the young man had turned away from him and started walking toward a beautiful young woman who had taunted his subconscious before. 

Freya was a pretty brown haired girl that had contacted Merlin when the search for a little had started for Arthur and him a long time ago. Their method of beginning the process had been a caretaker-little website with excellent reviews and where she had found his profile moments after it had pop-up. A few weeks of e-mails had started his infatuation with the young woman. Text messages came to follow quickly after and it took about two months before a meeting was set-up. 

The arranged play-date had happened at an established home run by a forum member of the website. The organizer had events often at the house to allow there to be a comfortable and safe environment for everyone to get to know one another. There were plenty of members, caretakers, and little to watch over each other to help make the process easier to deal with. 

The initial introductions had gone well and Freya had seemed to Merlin as the potential one. The little who could be his and Arthur’s to turn their grey cloud lives into blue and sunny skies. However during the get-together, she would gravitate toward Merlin and only him. Even if at that time when Arthur wasn’t quite up to par as a caretaker, other littles took interest in the blond haired man. 

Merlin had hoped it had only been nerves of meeting that caused Freya to seek his attention the most. Since he had been the one the girl had been talking mainly to during the e-mails and text messages exchanges and was how he defended Freya when her actions had been questioned by Arthur. Of course, Merlin knew now that what he had said was his way of trying to keep the daydream of having her as their little alive. 

Once he picked up on the fact that Freya had no intention of getting to know Arthur after play-date number two and three, Merlin knew his imaginary future might not come to be. Though he tried his hardest to get the girl and his husband to find common ground, it just never seemed to work out. Either Arthur was busy with work during the scheduled meeting time or Freya found a way to disagree with whatever his husband would bring up to the conversation.

For example, Merlin had told his husband about Beauty and the Beast being Freya’s preferred movie which lead to Arthur asking if the yellow dress was her favorite. Since they had both seen her in a similar style dress to the one worn in the movie, it was kind of assumed. However she told them about the pink dress with the red coat that was worn by Belle during a song section as the one she liked the best. 

Merlin felt puzzled by her answer since he remembered asking the same one before and checked his text messages conversation with her later to find that the reply had been the yellow dress. He realized then that she didn’t want to have the same response as his husband on anything. For Arthur had explained about the yellow dress had been quite stunning, especially during the ball room scene. 

From there it seemed the world inside his head was falling slowly into pieces to be swept up and put away. For the girl was adamant about not getting along with Arthur and even went out of her way to keep it that way. Even as the weeks of hanging out with her turned into months, he was the lone person she wanted to be with. 

Knowing that the girl was not going to become part of their family, Merlin had to be the one to end it. Since his husband and he had promised to find a little that needed and sought after both of them. Once he explained to her about not being able to be her caretaker, Freya told him how she felt. That his husband was a phony caretaker who worked too much and no one would want to have two parents. 

Her words would feel like a curse to Merlin that had been placed upon Arthur and himself. For they would move on to center littles after the website didn’t work out and those littles were never able to warm up to the both of them. There was always one who found interest with Arthur and not him or vice versa. Plus their group of friends had only one caretaker in the relationship which seemed to work just fine. 

For a while after not finding a little, Merlin had figured that she had been correct in her statement. By then his husband had been willing to hand over the role as a caretaker to him solely if only to make him smile again. Of course finding Freya had taken time and she was no longer available by then as her knight in shining armor had finally arrived. 

“Papa?” Said Freya which confused him as the girl had only called him by his given name and nothing else. 

Merlin would shake his head and blink away the image of the girl in the princess dress. His vision would return to reality to show Mordred in front of him standing up in the crib. The young man was giving him a confused look causing him to wonder how long he had been staring out into space. 

“Papa?” Asked Mordred who moved closer toward him as possible with the crib’s side bar in the way. 

“I’m sorry sweetheart.” Merlin said as he placed his hand in the boy’s messy-from-sleep hair to run his fingers though. 

“Don’t cry, Papa.” Said the young man reaching a finger toward his cheek to wiping away a tear Merlin hadn’t known was falling. “Me loves you.” 

“What did you say?” Questioned Merlin for his brain had short circuited at the words that had just come out of the boy’s mouth. “Can you repeat that for Papa?” 

“I love you.” Said Mordred smiling at him as if to reassure him that the boy was speaking the truth before the young man turned toward the doorway. “I love Daddy too.” 

Merlin would look in the direction of the hallway to see the silhouette of his husband standing in the door way. He turned back at the young man and noticed something he had only heard about from Arthur. There in front of him was not just his little boy or the big mind-set one that came around sometimes but Mordred as a whole. He could see all the versions of the boy shining back with the glow of saying that magical word to him. The one expression that Arthur and him had felt for the young man months ago but were too afraid to speak for fear of scaring Mordred away. 

“I love you so much, Sweetheart.” Merlin said before he gave Mordred a few kisses on the boy’s forehead and cheeks as proof of his words. “Daddy does as well.” 

“Hey, I can speak for myself.” Said Arthur who hit his shoulder hard causing him to realize that the blond haired man was no longer at the door. “You know I feel the same way, Love.” 

“Yep, Daddy and Papa both love me lots.” Said Mordred beaming at the two of them before reach out to give kisses. 

Merlin swore he saw the ghost of his failed caretaker-little relationship walk out the door after that moment. He would be thankful to his husband for giving him a way of leaving the room with the idea of making the young man a bottle of warm milk. So he was alone to cry away the overjoy that had flowed inside and was spilling out. It was one thing to be called Papa but it brought everything to another level with the word 'Love' being genuinely said. For it showed that there had never been a spell placed on his husband and him, the right path had just taken them time to find the way to their little prince. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Arthur was smirking as he heard Mordred giggling after he blew a raspberry on the boy’s tummy. It was like a song on repeat, he just had to hear that sound over and over again. Luck was on his side for Mordred seemed to being enjoying this spontaneous game of his. 

Of course, he knew that getting the young man dressed for the day before Merlin got out of the shower was his mission. However Arthur couldn’t help but be silly at the moment since he had woken up in an extremely good mood. His husband had finally shed the weight of the past that had been resting upon the dark haired man’s shoulders. 

He had figured out what had woken his husband late last night in such a trembling way, for today marked three months with Mordred. It was truly wonderful to see the date on the calendar and realize it had been that long. However, one person came to mind when that amount of time came to be and that was Freya. 

Their short lived caretaker-little relationship with her had lasted that long. It hadn’t really gone anywhere as they only ever met at the set-up house for getting to know each other. Nonetheless that brief span of time with the girl had destroyed Merlin’s confidence of becoming a Papa. 

Something that Arthur had worried about when they had first started talking with Morgause to acquire Mordred as their own. That the connection with the young man would fizzle away after awhile and prove they weren’t meant to be caretakers. However, Mordred had shown that they were exactly what the boy needed and things were getting better as the days went by.

“Daddy, down please.” Arthur heard Mordred say and realized the boy was sitting up with a tilted head as if to figure out what he had been lost in thought about. 

“Sorry, Buddy.” Arthur said while he gave the young man a hand to get off the changing table that Mordred had been laying on. “Daddy got distracted” 

“It’s okay.” Said Mordred who was heading over toward the rocking chair where there were clothes placed upon it. “Was thinking too.” 

“You were?” Asked Arthur as he came over to join the young man and grabbed the shirt on top of the pile. “Can Daddy know what it was about?” 

“Papa was sad.” Said the young man that putting arms up to allow him to get the shirt on the boy. 

“He had a bad dream.” Said Arthur as he pulled the shirt down to reach just above the pull-up the young man was wearing. “Papa thought you were going to leave us.” 

“But I like it here.” Mordred said while looking up at him in a nervous way. “Want to stay with my daddies” 

“I’m glad to hear that, Love.” Said Arthur as he ruffled the young man’s hair and grinned. “Since Papa and I love that you are here with us each and every day.”

Arthur observed as a big smile appeared upon the boy’s face before Mordred came to hug him. He couldn’t help but kiss the top of the young man’s head and taking in the moment of bliss. Someday he still felt like pinching himself to make sure this wasn’t just a wonderful dream. For Mordred was such a wonder to have around, a sweet little who liked having two parents and never once complained about it. 

 

He felt Mordred trying to detangle from their cuddle fest and he let the boy go to allow for roaming. The young man would grab the stretching waistband blue jeans from the rocking chair to hand to him. Arthur almost wanted to laugh but knew better than to upset Mordred. For the young man was not like Gwaine or Lance yet with being comfortable enough to go pant less around the house. 

Merlin and he had discussed this topic of interest a few times in the past weeks. How perhaps if they didn’t put pants or shorts on the young man, it would show that they were okay with Mordred in a t-shirt and pull-up. Especially since it was getting hotter in these warmer months even with the central air on, it would be cooler for the young man. 

However they determined it wasn’t worth ruining Mordred’s trust with them to just decided on their own. Therefore they left the option up to the young man as they dressed Mordred every morning. If the boy wanted to cover up the pull-ups or diapers with clothing then they would let it be. 

Of course, that still allowed Arthur to decide what kind of pants to place on the boy and he didn’t particularly like this choice from his husband. The polo shirt the young man was wearing at the moment was grey with red strips running horizontally; somehow blue jeans didn’t seem to go with. In his eyes, overall popped up and he figured it would make the boy look even more sweet if that could be possible. 

So Arthur went toward the closet to see if he could find a pair of short overalls. While rummaging through the hung up clothes in search of the sought after item, a realization came to him. There were no imaginary outfits for the young man to play as. This boggled his mind as Gwen had always made costumes for the littles, all of Morgana’s princess dresses were made by the kind woman. 

Then he remembered the costume that Merlin had given Freya as a present when her birthday fell on one of their play dates. It had taken his husband days of watching her favorite movie to get a sketch of the dress so that a realistic version could be made. Plus there had been several hours that Merlin and Gwen had taken just to pick the right fabric before the cram session to get the outfit done on time.

Of course, the girl had been delighted over the detailed dress and wore it as often as possible at the get together. He knew from his husband that Freya had been wearing the costume the day in which Merlin had explained the severing of ties. The dark haired man already upset with having to hurt the girl’s feelings had allowed her to keep the outfit. 

Having worked all that out in his mind, Arthur understood the reason why Merlin hadn’t asked for Gwen to make anything for Mordred yet. The worry of causing their dear friend to take time from a busy schedule to sew and create another piece of hard work that might never been totally appreciated. So Arthur figured it was going to be up to him to ask the kind woman to create a cape with a dragon for Mordred. Since the young man seemed to like being his little knight as they had already had to replace the broken sword from the firework show. 

 

Arthur shook his head to get his train of thought back onto what he was searching for. Since he had gone over all the items in the closet but hadn’t really been looking at them in detail. Arthur had just decided to give up when the sought after article came to be right in front of him. Hoping that Mordred hadn’t got upset during the long wait, he turned around causally to find that Merlin was standing with the boy who was wearing the blue jean shorts and sneakers as well. 

“Mordred came over to me when I entered the room.” Said Merlin who had clearly figured out why he had a confused face. “I called out to you several times but you seemed determined to find something.” 

“I was looking for these.” Arthur said while handing over the pair of short overall to his husband. “I figured they would go well with Mordred’s shirt and make Aunt Morgause melt with his cuteness.” 

“Those are nice and almost certainly would add to the adorable factor.” Said Merlin as his husband examined the article of clothing before looking over at him. “However he can’t wear them.” 

“What wrong with the overall?” Said Arthur almost dumbfounded over his husband’s words. “It’s not like they would clash.” 

“I wasn’t saying that, your prat.” Merlin said who sighed at him before moving closer to him with the article of clothing. “But they have snaps on the inseam.” 

“So what wrong with that.” Said Arthur as if it mattered what was on the pair of overalls. 

“Arthur, this is meant for a little who wearing diapers.” Said Merlin as the dark haired man undid the snaps to demonstrate to him the purpose of them. 

“Oh.” Said Arthur once his brain took the information presented in front of him. “I thought that was just the designer’s style.”

“It’s alright dear.” Said Merlin who laughed softly at him before moving toward the closet to put his failed attempt of picking Mordred’s pants back. “Like Gaius always told me, you learn something new every day.” 

Arthur would have to agree with his husband on that statement. Since they were still figuring out things with their little from one day to the next, even if it had been three months already. Of course, there was plenty that had been learned in the given time. Such as the fact, the young man liked orange juices the best out of all the drink choices or that the Sword in the Stone for some odd reason was Mordred’s favorite movie. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Mordred had been somewhat worried when his daddies had announced that they had a unique surprise for breakfast this morning as they got into Papa’s car. He had been secretly hoping for some yummy chocolate chip pancakes or waffles since it was Saturday and Papa made those kinds of breakfasts on the weekends. So it was a bit unnerving to have a switch in the schedule. Plus the streets they were passing seemed kind of familiar to him. 

Then it hit him like a ton of bricks, they were going to see Aunt Morgause as Daddy had mentioned her earlier. The time on the car’s radio reading 9:45 a.m. proved his theory to be correct. Since this was around the usually time in which his daddies would show up at the diner when he had been working there. 

Mordred would start sucking on his pacifier a bit quicker as he tried to calm himself. For a million questions came to be inside his head all at once and some were not nice. Like did he do something wrong to make them decide to taking him back to be replaced with another waiter? He would shake his head on that one since that couldn’t be because they loved him.

Plus this was a special occasion which meant they were doing this for him. Papa’s face smiling in the rearview mirror reassured him on his thoughts causing the butterflies in his belly to settle down. In addition, he kind of wanted to see how Aunt Morgause was doing as it had been a long time since he had seen her. 

He had been thinking of a way to thank her in person for all the things that she had done for him but never knew how to bring it up to his daddies. For the diner was a good distance away from home and Daddy often worked past his bath time. Plus Mordred liked Papa’s dinner meals which wouldn’t happen if he insisted on seeing Aunt Morgause. 

“Buddy, what are you doing?” he heard his Daddy ask which caused him to look up from his somewhat bent position and find that the car was parked.

“Nothing.” Said Mordred as he took out his binky and sat back in his car seat. “Just looking.” 

“Did you lose something?” Questioned Merlin after his papa had opened the side door next to him. 

Mordred felt his cheek warm up and shook his head as he had been searching for Papa’s leather messenger bag. However he couldn’t tell them that because it would ruin his plan. Since he hoped to make Aunt Morgause a card to show his gratefulness to her and there usually was plain white paper with fun colored markers for him to draw with in the bag. 

He knew if he told them, they might tell her about it before he made the card or try to take over his creation. For Papa had colored in one of the pictures in his monster coloring book just the other day that he had been about to work on. So he decided to remain quiet and stuff the binky back into his mouth while Daddy and Papa try to figure out how to undo the buckles on his seat. 

 

Mordred was a bit tense as he walked into the diner holding Papa’s hand. Daddy was behind them and he kept looking back to see the blond haired man smiling at him. He was taken aback when they stopped walking as he saw Auntie Morgause at the cash register just like that day back in October. 

She just waved at him while they walked over to what had been labeled as his daddies’ booth. Since the couple had always sat in that particular location in which he had meet them. However this time would be different as he would slide into the seat next to Papa so that he could be in the middle instead of how it used to be with him at the end of Daddy’s left. 

Looking around the room, Mordred could see Kara at the counter and wonder if she missed working with him. From what he saw while checking out the other staff members, it seemed like she was the only one that Mordred knew from back when he had a job here. He knew that the turnaround at the diner had been big and even at the restaurant he had worked at before. So it shouldn’t have been a surprise that a handful of people had come and gone within the three months of his departure. 

Suddenly he stopped checking around the diner as his brain felt stuck at what he had just come to the conclusion of. He would frantically start counting and recounting the number of days since his last day of work. He figured there was no way his math was correct or that he had already been living with his daddies for that amount of time. 

How could have the days just flown by like that was his thought without him noticing but it made some sense. Since having Papa and Daddy in his life had made everything better and easier to handle. Things that usually caused him stress were taken away to be dealt with by his daddies which allowed him to be free and happy, most of all he was having tons of fun in this world of new experiences. 

He was just about to ask his daddies if his timeline was right when he saw Aunt Morgause coming toward them with a tray of food. Papa’s meal popped up in his memory first and then Daddy’s which had always been more complicated. Mordred was kind of shocked to see that he still remembered their order as well as how his daddies took their coffee. 

“Afraid that I would steal the puppy, boys” Said Morgause as she was placing plates down in front of them. “I was just going to give him some treats, I swear.” 

Mordred could only smile back at her when he got the serving dish intended for him. For there were two big Mickey Mouse shaped chocolate chip pancakes with powdered sugar and a few slices of bacon on the side. Like always, Aunt Morgause knew what he wanted without even having to ask. He figured that two cards were going to have to be made for her now. 

“Actually, Mordred picked the seating arrangement.” Daddy said grinned up at her while she was handed over two mugs full with coffee. “He likes to be close to both his daddies.” 

“I told you about three being a magic number.” Said Morgause as she went to take something on the tray but came up empty and looked over at him. “Sorry Sugar, your drink wasn’t decided yet for me to grab.” 

“Oh, can you put it in a Sippy cup?” Asked Papa as the dark haired man reached into his green bag to hand over a blue one. 

“Absolutely, don’t need to call for cleanup in aisle three this way.” Said Auntie Morgause as she took the cup from his papa and smiled at them kindly. “So what will it be?” 

“Cranberry for the little one, please.” said Arthur nonchalantly while ruffling his hair. “It’s the next one up on the list of juices.” 

Mordred grimaced on the inside as the mention of the drink option of his bane. He really didn’t want to have that kind of juice with the wonderful meal in front of him. This caused him to be torn at what to do for part of him wanted to speak up to ask if he could have something else while the other half was reminding him to be grateful just to be getting something to quench his thirst. 

“What do you think, Honey?” he heard Merlin asks which made it harder for him to figure out what to do. “Cranberry juice sound like a good choice?” 

“Not really, Papa.” Said Mordred taking the opportunity to see what would happen if he did speak his mind. “Don’t like it.” 

Nervously he waited for their reply, even though he had an idea that everything was going to be okay. Since his daddies didn’t get mad at him when he asked for one thing over the other. So perhaps the same could be said about the things that he wasn’t a fan of. 

This was the best way to find out in his opinion because the juice hadn’t already been poured into the cup; therefore it wouldn’t be considered wasteful. This was an issue that Mordred always thought about since many places in his life had scrutinized over such things. It often made him feel like a burden if something was thrown out or unused because he didn’t like it. So in order to handle the stress he suffered from it, he decided years ago to just deal with whatever was handed to him without complaint. 

“That’s fine, Love.” Said his daddy who gave him a sideways hug and reassuring kiss on the forehead. “You can have anything you would like to drink then.” 

“Expect for coffee, Sweetheart.” Said Papa as the dark haired man placed a hand over his. “Next time just let us know if you don’t want something, okay.” 

Mordred nodded at them before smiling when realizing there was another thing that he could let go of. For his daddies were alright with him telling them about what he liked and disliked. Of course, he knew there might be some things that were not going to be negotiable like eating veggies and probably food that he hadn’t tried yet. 

“Orange juice it is then.” Morgause said smirking at them before she causally walked away with his blue sippy cup in hand. 

He was a bit suspicious if it had been a setup for Auntie Morgause had winked before turning around. Mordred would look at his papa first and then at Daddy to see both of them beaming like the battle had been won. He sighed when he realized they had done it all on purpose to get him to open up to them about his dislike of cranberry juice but how did they figure it out.

“Your little nose twitch is cute but we figured what it meant a while ago.” Said Daddy who had sneakily taken a piece of his bacon and it made him wonder if the blond haired man could read his mind. 

“In truth, it was Gwaine who told us.” Said Merlin as Papa was cutting up the pancakes on his plate. “Really shouldn’t have forced yourself to eat or drink something that you didn’t like, Honey.” 

“But it’s wasteful.” Said Mordred trying to explain why he didn’t speak up about such things before. 

“Not with us. Papa would have had the cranberry juice if you told us after Auntie Morgause had brought it out.” Said Daddy while grinning at him and ruffling his hair. “And I will eat your bacon if you don’t like it.” 

“No, I want that.” Mordred said as he pushed the plate closer to Papa in a way to save his precious food from the hungry bacon stealing king. “Papa, help me.” 

“I will.” Said his papa as the dark haired man took a piece of bacon. “Thank you Honey.” 

Mordred frowned at the both of them before remembering that they didn’t mean anything by it. They were just having some fun with him and he had to smile at them, because Mordred knew Auntie Morgause would be on his side and get him more bacon. Especially if he told her with a sad face which might land him some sympathy. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Morgause was quite pleased with the three cards in her hand. She had smiled as the young man had handed them to her before the three friends of hers had left to continue their adventure for the day. It was a true marvel to see the little Mordred in person. For so long she had envisioned what the young man could be like. 

However she hadn’t seen how beautiful the Mordred underneath all the hurt and pain looked like. There might have been a hint or glimmer every once in a while but never like this. No, Merlin and Arthur had done well in her book by the way they had broken down the walls that had been surrounding the little boy. 

Once in her office, Morgause debated where to place her colorful works of art. The first one which was a simple breakfast was awesome when on her desk next to some complaints to balance the good and the bad. The second card which stated she was a super hero for the extra bacon would sit next to her plant that needed some rescuing of its own. 

The last card would go on her bulletin board, the big thank you that took up almost the whole page. She wanted to make sure everyone could see that one. For there was always another lost puppy that needed her to lend a hand and this way they would see things did work out. 

It did feel good to see that one in which she had guided towards the right path was doing extremely well. This caused Morgause to worry for a brief moment as she saw the green eyed monster making a return. She was just about to grab her phone to call Arthur and Merlin but decided against it. For what good would come if she ruined part of the journey ahead.


	16. It’s just another day at the office

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merlin has to go into work and he has no-one to watch his little elf. Therefore it is an adventure at the daycare for Mordred.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Everyone,
> 
> I hope you are all doing well especially after the events from last week. My heart goes out to all those love ones who have lost someone in a tragic way. 
> 
> Thank you for the million time for all the kudos and comments. A big thanks to littlewebbie for beta this chapter with her crazy schedule and keeping me sane. 
> 
> Please enjoy this chapter and if I'm missing any tags don't hesitate to let me know. Thanks!

August 12th

Merlin felt conflicted on what to say to Mordred while he was cleaning up from breakfast. He had just gotten a text from his husband about an important client demanding a meeting with the both of them. The worst part was that this customer didn’t want any outsiders, just Arthur and him which caused the dilemma of what to do with his little elf.

If only it wasn’t a Thursday was one of his thoughts as he realized that Gwen would be a no for watching the boy. He glanced at the calendar along the kitchen wall to see that Percival and Gwaine were on vacation which meant another unavailable option. Merlin sighed as he texted Arthur to see if there was a possible spot for Mordred at the daycare center today.

Since there were a limited number of staff members on floor three on given days, it needed to be cleared with the head of the department first. In addition, it was necessary due to the fact that they hadn’t been required to have Mordred stay at the center yet. He could simply hope that it was a slow day and there was room for one more.

Getting a text back from his husband that it was a go, Merlin decided an awesome lunch for the boy was a must. This way if he couldn’t get out of the meeting before the lunch hour began, Mordred would have a tasty reminder of how much he did care for the young man. If only Arthur hadn’t taken so much of the leftover Macaroni and cheese to work already.

Luck was on his side as he took out the almost empty Pyrex container to find another was hiding behind it. This reminded Merlin about how he doubled the recipe to ensure there was plenty for both his favorite people. Something that needed to happen since there was hardly any left for even himself to enjoy the last couple of times.

Just as he was finishing packing the green lunch box, Merlin heard footsteps entering the room. He turned away from the counter to see Mordred who had on a confused face. Knowing that the boy had a knack for picking up on what was going on, Merlin waited to see what the young man had to say.

“Going to work?” Said Mordred to him as the boy peaked over his shoulder to see the two lunch boxes and his traveling mug with their faces on it.

“Yes, Honey.” Merlin said while he was heading toward the refrigerator to grab some juice to place into a sippy cup that the boy might want later. “Daddy needs me to assist him.”

“I’m staying with Auntie Gwen?” Questioned the young man who was watching him move around the room gathering things for their trip to work.

“No, she's at work today” Said Merlin as he declared everything in the kitchen was ready to go with washing of his hands. “You and I are going to the office.”

“We going to help him?” Said the young man who he could see was smiling at the idea of getting to be with Arthur and him on a weekday as they moved into the living room toward the hallway. “Like a team.”

“I’m sorry; Sweetheart.” Said Merlin who knew this was going to be a blow to the young man’s system. “You are going to be on floor three while Daddy and Papa work with their client.”

“Oh.” Mordred said who stopped following him towards the messenger bags that needed to be checked by him. “Morgana gonna be there?”

“She might be.” Said Merlin who could only hope that she was if only to make this easier for his little elf. “Plus we can have lunch together after the meeting.”

“Really?” Asked the young man who started to fidget. “Find Daddy first?”

“Of course, Honey” Said Merlin as he gave the boy a wary look. “He’ll want to see you as well.”

“Okay,” Said Mordred who began shifting from one foot to the other.

“Should we take you to the potty before we head out?” Merlin asked as he grabbed the keys from his belt while heading toward the bathroom knowing the answer was going to be yes but had to ask as it was protocol.

“Yes, please Papa.” He heard behind him as he was opening the door to allow the young man to enter.

Merlin had forgotten that as of lately, Mordred didn’t ask about needing a trip to the potty anymore. Usually Arthur or he would have to spot that the boy required a bathroom break to prevent an accident from occurring. However he had been busy with preparing for going to work to notice the signs. Now it was only a matter of time before the flood gates opened.

 

Once inside the bathroom, Merlin made quick work of pulling down the stretchy waist band shorts the young man was wearing. He could tell the pull-up had taken a bit of a hit while he pushed it down but not considered wet enough for the swords to start to fade. Therefore this would not be considered an accident just a need for a change of underwear.

He went over toward the vanity once Mordred was sitting down on the potty. Knowing they were out of the danger zone, Merlin opened a draw under the sink to grab the package of pull-ups that was left in there for this very reason. Merlin was quite thankful when he finally heard liquid hitting water for it had to be just as nerve-racking for him as it must have been on Mordred.

The young man blushed when he removed the shorts and soiled pull-up to replace. No major meltdown told him that Mordred was becoming okay with this style of life and no longer afraid of what the consequence would be. Not that there had even been a reason by Arthur or him to make this out to be a problem that needed to be fixed.

It just had been all the years from before their time with the young man in which caused the fear that anger and hitting was the answer to deal with this kind of thing. Something his husband and he had never planned on allowing to occurr since they understood the mind of a little. Especially since the rest of the members in the group had trained them well.

The boy actually seemed calm to him as they were washing hands, which made him skeptical. Merlin wondered if perhaps this new development was actually an assessment. Was Mordred trying to cause a dormant volcano to erupt or maybe just making sure it never did. Perhaps pushing buttons was a good sign as it showed that the young man was contented with Arthur and him to test the limits.

 

Merlin could feel the anxiety radiating off of his little elf whose hand he was holding while waiting for the elevator to reach floor three. They had just finished a quick visit with Daddy which might have made things worse. For Arthur had told them that Morgana was in her office on the eighteenth floor and had not been at the daycare area in over a week.

Without having a play buddy to help Mordred deal with this situation, the idea of going to the center seemed to frighten the boy. No matter how many times they had reassured the young man that it was going to be okay, Mordred had begged to stay with Mithian. The girl had been nice enough to even agree to the scared little's suggestion. Unfortunately, Merlin knew they couldn’t do that to the young woman who had a mountain of work on the desk but thank her for the offer.

He watched the young man jump when the elevator dinged and it made him question if this could be a huge mistake. Merlin could feel his own heart racing as he worried while he realized this must have been how Arthur had felt when dropping Mordred off at Gwen's that one time. Knowing that he had to do this in order to allow Mordred to grow more confidence around other littles, he put on a wide grin upon his face.

With as much poise as he could mustard, Merlin walked them to the front counter to sign Mordred in. The name plate on the girl standing behind the desk said Elena and she smiled brightly at the two of them. Luckily his hand being held in a tight almost finger breaking squeeze was not his writing one, as there were a few forms for him to add his signature to.

From what he read quickly and some glanced over, his husband had filled in the paperwork already. Somehow Merlin was not surprise about since Arthur would want to make sure all the important details on how to take care of their little boy was there. There was just one addition to sheets of paper which stated that Mordred had a stuffed animal in the green messenger bag if things got to the point of an inconsolable little.

Once everything was signed, Merlin watched as Elena placed a stamp on the back of Mordred’s hand to ensure to the staff members of the young man being a little in their care. He made sure to thank her before leading the young man toward an area which had drawing stations. Merlin was thinking of getting the boy so engrossed into coloring, that his presence wouldn’t be noticed until much later. Long enough, he hoped that perhaps his meeting would be done so he could come get his little elf.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Arthur felt a bit concerned as he watched his husband trying to make some designs for the client sitting next to him. He could tell that Merlin was having an off day and was sure it had to do with the unknown of how their little was doing down below. It wasn’t like his husband was completely unable to figure out what the customer was trying to convey. The problem was just the distraction of worry that seemed to be taking over thoughts instead of coming up with ideas.

Given that he was even having a hard time trying to keep his mind focused at the task in front of him. At this point, Arthur wished that their friends were able to watch the boy since then they would be getting some kind of information. However with the young man just down a few flights of stairs, they had foolishly put on the paperwork to only be contacted if it was a major catastrophe happening with Mordred.

So the old saying about not hearing anything being considered good news was ridiculous in his option. How could he not be frazzled as the minutes ticked by and his mind came up with horrible scenarios which all ended with Mordred crying in a corner. Fearing that his imagination might be really going on and his little knight needed him, Arthur decide he would pretend an employee had called about an emergency. At least that would give him a few minutes to go spy on the young man to see how things were going.

Just as he was about to speak after waiting for the client to finish yammering on about the color scheme, his phone started moving around on the round table as he had placed in on vibrate earlier. Arthur apologized to the customer while explained how even in the conformance room, he couldn’t hide from his needy employees. In which the opposite was the case as his co-workers were by far the most talented people in the building and handpicked by him.

Luck was on his side as the client started to go on about annoying employees and such. Acting like he was listening with a few nodes here and there, he was able to ignore the conversation to see who had messaged him. Mithian's name popped up and Arthur was puzzled because if it was about work, she would have just e-mailed him.

So it was a bit surprising to read her message stating that she had contacted her roommate Elena about Mordred. Apparently, the other girl worked at the daycare center and explained to his secretary that the young man was doing just fine. This allowed him to feel calmer about the situation before pictures started to come through.

Arthur wondered if a pay raise could be issued to Mithian as he saw the image of his little coloring a picture. He zoomed in to see if there were tear stains but got distracted by something on the boy’s shirt. Noticing two stickers on the shirt caused him to pause as his husband had told him earlier about the incidence earlier. This made him realize that Mordred was actually doing better at daycare than the young man had with his friends.

Of course, it made sense as he had gone into a great deal of information with the head staff member on floor three. Therefore those employees knew what to look for and maybe he should make a copy of that paperwork to give out when others were babysitting Mordred. Especially if it helped allow for his little knight to be happy while Merlin and he were busy with annoying things that forced them to be apart for the young man.

Arthur opened the next one to find Mordred stacking blocks in to what he decided looked like a castle with another little. This got the wheel turning in his head as Arthur knew that person playing with his boy and even worked with them before. It then dawned on him suddenly that Morgana knew about her “Momo” being at the daycare center. For he had figured out the man in the picture worked for her department and when by the name of Cenred.

He wanted to smack his head as he realized that Morgana had asked the man to go down to the daycare center to be with Mordred. Since even in the attire of a little, Cenred’s eyes looking at the phone’s camera showed only the adult side. However in the next picture of the pair playing with cars, Arthur could see the change and realized that Cenred was like Gwaine. For both men had the ability to go from one headspace to the other quickly without trying.

It was only later when talking to his husband during a short break to allow the customer to use the facility, when Arthur figured out that he knew the man much better than he previously thought. Arthur had only meet Morgause’s husband once before at the diner many years ago. That Cenred had been dressed as a chef which explained why his mind had never registered the man as being the same person until Merlin had called him out on it.

 

Arthur was struggling to not look at the clock on the wall in the conference room for the millionth time. He knew that Merlin was hoping to get down to the daycare floor before noon to sign out Mordred. For the rule that had been established by management was no little could be taken out for lunch once the clock hit 12:00. Having seen that the hands on the timepiece were getting closer, it was going to be cutting it close.

If only this client was able to decide between the two designs logos in front of them that Merlin had finished over an hour ago. Then perhaps they could close the meeting for a short break to be resumed later. He was even willing to give up spending time with Mordred to take the client out for lunch, just so his husband didn’t give him a devastating look later.

Luck was on his side however as he heard his husband come up with a marvelous idea. Since the customer had a children and adult fashion line, both designs could be used. The more whimsical option with a playful look seemed ideal for the children’s line. While the simple, bold, and sophisticated version worked with an adult aesthetics.

Seeing the brightness in the client’s smile, Arthur knew that Merlin had won. This allowed him to charm the customer in a way that gave Merlin a reason to leave the room. For a computer version of the two designs would need to be made and that required a special technician on a different floor.

Of course, there was no such position but the client didn’t need to know that. If anything telling the client of an employee named Mordred, just help Arthur get the young man’s foot in the door. Plus the boy was taking classes to improve and was coming up with some interesting logos. Even if these designs could only be used by pet companies, there were plenty of them for Arthur to push along.

Realizing that the customer was packing up, Arthur started chatting about lunch. It seemed he had woken on the right side of the bed this morning as the client had declined his offer politely. Never before had he been more thrilled to head toward the elevator with someone while knowing that he would be able to see his little instead of driving to a stuffy overpriced restaurant.

 

Arthur was quickly walking down the stairs towards the cafeteria. He had traveled up to floor 16 to retrieve his lunch bag from the refrigerator in the break room after seeing the customer to their car. Only for him to get a picture text from Merlin with Mordred holding all three colorful bags that had been brought from home.

The smile on his little’s face made he wanted to hurry to be there in person with the young man. For it had been hard enough on him having to be stuck in the conference room all morning while knowing Mordred was just a elevator ride down. Luckily for him even with the rush of employees’ trying to get to lunch, the staircases were barely being used. Plus the hallway leading to his destination wasn’t clogged with slow movers who were trying to push the break for a few minutes longer.

In addition, no one had stopped him to chat which was unusually in itself. Many co-workers liked to grab his ear figuring that the boss’s son would be able to convince Uther over something or other. As if Arthur actually had any power toward the way his father handled the business. However he really didn’t want to go down that path of thought as he opened the door to the cafeteria.

For he could see from his location, his husband and Mordred sitting down at a table already eating. He would just shrug at that fact when he reached them and his husband gave him a worried look. This didn’t really bother him as much as it might have since Arthur known that his little knight didn’t have a long amount of time before having to go back up to floor three.

Therefore Arthur was just thankful that his meal had been heated for him already by their kind consideration of the distance he had to travel to get here. This gave him more moments to be with Mordred before the real work world came back to play. He would have to mark this as an interesting turn of events to being having lunch at the office with his family. It was even a good deal of fun and laughter in his eyes when Morgana and Leon had come to join the trio.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mordred would open one eye and giggle before closing it again. In the brief moment of sight he had seen Cenred making a silly face toward him. In order to keep the staff members from finding out that they weren’t actually napping, they made sure to have closed eyes when someone was walking around. Since neither one of them wanted to be sleeping on thin laid out mats at the moment.

He hadn’t been thrilled when Daddy had brought him back to the daycare area to have nap time. It was actually an enforced rule that all little needed to be back before 1 so they could rest and avoid get “cranky”. However since Cenred was still here and they were nap buddies, it wasn’t as bad as Mordred had been dreading. Everything had magical became less scary when there was someone here that he knew.

Of course, coming to floor three had been much easier to deal with this time around then in the morning with Papa. For Mordred had been very afraid that no one would want to play with him. His social skills had never been strong and even around other like him, he had feared everyone would ignore or isolate him.

For Mordred had moved from place to place too often and had been the new kid who no one wanted to say hi to. In addition, he had remembered from his brief moment here with Papa the last time at the office. How there had been clusters of littles playing with each other. Even if Mordred did get the courage to speak to another person, their group of friends would come to rescue them from him.

 

This had been his main reason for begging his daddies to let him stay with them. For his past life experience with being in a crowd of people having the upper hand against him never went well. Plus there would be no Papa or Daddy to save him and being alone to face the sea of unfamiliar faces who might call him something not nice was daunting.

So in the beginning of his morning, Mordred had colored hoping that whatever was going on in the meeting upstairs ended quickly. He was a bit shocked when Cenred had poked him to get his attention since Mordred hadn’t thought anyone would notice him. Especially since he had moved to a back cornered desk away from most of the others.

Cenred had asked him to play blocks and from there the fun had begun. In addition, they were able to chat which was a nice change to the quiet that he had been surrender by. Of course, his binky earlier in his mouth hadn’t register as the noise was more a comfort factor. This interaction made it almost seem like he was at home with his daddies, as talking to him was one of the things that either Papa or Daddy did while playing with him.

Mordred learned that the diner was doing well but that he was indeed missed. For there were less broken dishes, dropped orders, and spilled drinks without him around. This brought back some fun memories to him as he had been close to both Cenred and Morgause during his employment with them.

Like the time in early February when most of the employees had gotten sick and had to called out. He had been forced to work the grill in the back since he was the only one with experience from his restaurant days. Some mess ups had occurred and Mordred might have caused a pancake to be stuck to the ceiling that day.

Of course, his fretting over it had made Morgause chuckle, pat him on the back and explain how it would come down some day. Which had happened on the very next day when Cenred had taken over working that station as it was a weekend and Mordred was better with customers. The look on the man’s face of shock when it hit still made him laugh.

Hearing a chuckle, Mordred broke out of his thought to open his eyes to find out it was from him. He sat up and looked around to find that even Cenred had fallen asleep as there was soft snoring coming from his friend. He watched as a staff member who name happened to be Gilli was heading in his direction which made him lay back down to escape trouble.

“Mordred; is something wrong?” Asked Gilli quietly while kneeling next to him. “You should be napping.”

“Can’t sleep.” He said softly to the staff member while trying to think of something to keep him out of the timeout section. “Have to go potty.”

Mordred was grateful when Gilli believed his words which allowed him to get up from his bright green mat. He figured the bit of wiggling he had done might have helped his cause as he followed the guy out of the landmine of napping littles towards the restrooms. This course of action might only bid him a few minutes before he would have to return to try again at napping but it was far better than having his daddies find out he was disobeying the daycare’s rule.

 

Mordred yawned again as he was waiting for his turn to come with the Snakes and Ladder board game that Cenred and companions were playing. Other littles had joined them who were friends of Cenred and he was thankful to be part of the group. Which was why he kept apologized to them about being sleepy as the sand man decided to skip him during nap time.

They had been kind enough to offer him some tips of advice for the next time he was at the floor three. Even telling Mordred stories of their own experiences which made him feel better with being here. For he had realized that his fears had been foolish, the people here were nice and friendly with one another.

Knowing that he had people who enjoyed his company, Mordred decided that it would be okay if his daddies had to work at the office more often. Somehow he had been able to make connections with other littles even if his brain reminded him that it was all thanks to Cenred. It was still nice to be a part of something and give other information.

Like the girl named Finna who appeared to have a tooth issue just like he did. Mordred would explain to her how a nice chewy toy was good to help relieve the pain. This led to the rest of the group entering the conversation as well and hearing a soft thank you from her later after all great guidance had made him smile.

Mordred had just landed on a snake and had to return to the middle of the board when he heard his name being called. Feeling like his luck might have just changed for the better; he looked around to see Papa moving toward him. The idea of getting up to run to the dark haired man had entered his mind but his sleep deprived body wouldn’t response.

So he had to patiently wait for his papa to join the group on the plush carpet. Mordred was kind of surprised when Papa sat down next to him and the other had even given room to allow it. For he had figured they would need to be heading home as soon as possible for dinner to be made.

“Are you winning?” Asked Papa as Merlin gave him a kiss on the cheek and a side hug.

“Uh-uh” Said Mordred who yawned before snuggling up to his papa even if it meant forgoing his next turn.

“Are you tired, my little elf?” Questioned Merlin who Mordred knew was confused by his sleepiness.

“No nap, Papa.” He answered and figured it would be better to tell the truth before Papa found out by talking to a staff member. “Me tried but dreams no came.”

“I’m sorry to hear that Sweetheart.” Papa said to him while brushing his curls with soft fingers. “The milk didn’t help? Papa made sure to put the chocolate syrup in ahead of time so it would be just like at home.”

“No milk-milk for me.” Said Mordred who sat up to look at his papa in a bit of shook for the staff hadn’t mentioned anything about him being able to have a bottle during nap time.

He watched as Merlin’s face seemed confused by his statement before getting up to head toward the front desk. Mordred no longer feeling too tired to move got up to go after the dark haired man. Since he wanted to be around his papa as it had been a long afternoon without having one of his daddies around, it didn’t matter to him if it came off as being clinging.

He heard exchanging of words coming from puzzled people as he reached his papa and decided to hug Merlin. It seemed the staff had no clue how his form had not been reviewed before nap time. Miss Elena would explain about being on her lunch break with the head of the department and had left Gilli in charge of getting littles to their correct locations for naps.

Apparently since he had followed Cenred to the mats, it had been assumed that he was in the child group section by the staff members. Mordred was a bit taken aback when Papa got a bit angry at that account. For they ought to have checked to see what group he was as his binky should have been a red flag.

That was when Mordred found out that he should have been placed in a different room for nap time, off from the main area which he had been for most of the day. There was an area behind the door next to the restrooms that had cribs and beds with or without side railings depending on the little’s preference. It was mainly used for the baby and toddler groups as well as those who need help falling asleep.

 

Mordred was trying to stay awake as Papa was driving them home but was finding it difficult. For the padding in his car seat was really soft and he was ever so sleepy. Plus the music in the car playing though the speakers was a classical piece that he knew was called the _Waltz of the Flowers_. The sound was not helping to keep his eyes from growing heavier as he could picture a world of dancing plants.

He had wanted to talk to his papa about the day and find out how things had gone with the client. However his words were stuck in his mouth as his hands were not in the mood to remove his binky. In addition, his lips decide not to cooperate as well since they refused to part with the object when he tried to spit it out.

Maybe his body knew he needed the pacifier more than he did, so Mordred gave up on speaking. He decided to just listen to the music around him and imagine as his eyes started to close. Even with him opening them a few times, he knew he had been beaten and the call of sleep was too strong. At least he knew it was okay with Papa as he saw a smile on Merlin’s face in the rearview mirror as his eyes shut for the last time before dreamland took over.


	17. Three Strikes and You Are OUT!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mordred's day is just not going right in his mind and maybe it's because of Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everyone,
> 
> Hope you are having a great day/night. Thank you for the kudos and comments, I so happy to see each and every one of them. Please let me know if I am missing any tags. This has been beta by the awesome littlewebby. :) So enjoy!

August 26th

Mordred was feeling a bit unnoticed as he slowly ate his yogurt and granola with his sippy cup of apple juice off to the side. For Cousin Lance was over and Papa was busy feeding the other man. It was kind of annoying in his mind that Lance needed to be at their house today as it was Friday and not a day that the other man was supposed to be little. 

It had been quite a surprise when the doorbell had gone off while he was still sleeping in the big bed with Papa, to find Auntie Gwen in a panic. Apparently, her brother who Lance called Uncle Elyan had been around for the past couple of days but had gotten called away for work just a few minutes ago. This left a still-in-little-headspace Lance to deal with and Gwen had a major root canal emergency to get to herself. 

Therefore Papa had told her it would be no problem for them to have Lance stay with them for the day. Not something he wanted to happen as they were supposed to go to the grocery store and he liked going to see all the interesting foods. Plus if Mordred behaved which he always did when they were there, Papa would buy him some graham crackers zoo animals. The elephants were always the best ones in his option. 

However the plans had been altered and now he was a bit miffed that Papa was making airplane sounds to get Lance to eat. Since Merlin hadn’t done that to him even if he didn’t need or want his daddies to spoon-feed him. It was the fact that Papa hadn’t even said anything about how good he was doing at not eating too quickly and keeping his bib somewhat clean. 

Plus Papa would randomly start tickling the other man and making comments about Lance’s diapers which struck a nerve with him. If he had to hear how adorable Elmo looked one more time, Mordred was going to do something dramatic. For it was getting frustrating to feel like the odd man out in this house where he was supposed to be the center of attention. 

So with his plan in mind, Mordred decided to wait until after breakfast for Papa and Lance and snack time for him to be over. When it was officially play time, he went over to Merlin who was sitting on the couch and searching for cartoons to put on the Television for Cousin Lance to watch while stacking blocks. There Mordred asked to have his shorts removed by simply explaining that he felt too hot with them on. 

This got the notice he was looking for, as Papa was taken aback by his request. It gave him a few minutes with just his papa that he wanted since Merlin had to take off the article of clothing that he was wearing. In addition, there were kind words of praise and kisses to the forehead from the dark haired man which made him feel somewhat better about what had transpired earlier in the kitchen. 

Mordred walked over to Cousin Lance with sort of a strut as if to say look what I have and you don’t. He had been hoping to get a response out of the other man and maybe one up the score. Since Lance did seem to be somehow winning at getting his Papa’s awareness today, far more than he was anyways. 

However Lance just smiled at him as if his removal of shorts was normal and went back to playing. Realizing that the bait wasn’t going to be taken from the other man, he figured it would just be better to give in. So Mordred sat down on the carpet to join the fun and realized how different it felt to be on the ground in just a pull-up. It was a bit cooler just like Daddy had explained to him weeks ago when if first started getting really hot. 

 

Mordred had been feeling less troubled over the whole diverge to the Friday’s schedule until Papa had come over to see how things were going. He had almost forgotten about his issues with how things had been so far today by building a soft tower of blocks. However the irritation would all come back to him when Papa knocked down their hard work to check Lance’s diaper. 

Merlin would announce that the other man was too wet to continue playing which led to him watching the pair walk to the bathroom to change. This left him alone to deal with the feelings that were bubbling up; Mordred had been trying to keep them at bay. For Papa hadn’t even looked over at him to make sure that there were still three swords. 

Somehow it seemed like his needs were being ignored and he knew what was going to happen once Papa got back. Merlin would ask him if he need to go potty which he kind of did but that only took a few minutes. That meant a brief moment with his papa, not something he wanted. For Mordred felt he needed more time with just Papa to cuddle and to remind everyone in the room that he was here. 

So his mind hatched a plan on how to get just that. Something that he hadn’t thought of doing before as it was never on the radar. Since Mordred had never consciously decided to allow his bladder to empty into a pull-up before. His usually daytime accidents occurred when he got too distracted by something or a few weeks ago when he had been testing his daddies to see what would happen if he didn’t tell them that he needed to go. However those incidences happened when the flood gate opened on their own accord. 

This was uncharted territory for him and a bit nerve-racking as there wasn’t much time left to accomplish his mission. For Papa and Cousin Lance would be back sooner than later. So he thought back to how Gwaine had done it the several times he had been around to witness the long haired man wetting a pull-up. 

Spreading his legs to sit in a V formation almost felt a bit awkward as Mordred didn’t take this kind of position often. There was a buzz instead him of both the thrill and fear for what was about to happen. Since Mordred decided to imagine he was sitting on the toilet in the upstairs bathroom and was being encouraged by his daddies to go tinkle in the potty. 

The first stream of pee to leave his body caused him to tight up to stop the flow from continuing as nerves took over. Mordred opened his eyes that he hadn’t realized had been closed and felt the rug underneath him but found dryness. Reminding himself that his pull-ups were able to handle his small bladder’s hold, he was determined to try again and took a deep breath. 

This time he didn’t stop himself when he felt the gate open considerably while he reimaged his vision from before. Instead Mordred looked down at the pull-up he was wearing to watch as the three swords started to fade away. It was somehow freeing to know that this was of his own doing and maybe he would have to admit to Gwaine the next time he saw the long haired man that it did feel nice to just let go. 

 

Mordred’s heart was pounding inside of him when he saw Papa and Cousin Lance entering the living room. Now that he had done the deed, Mordred didn’t feel it had been such a great plan after all. For he was going to have to tell Merlin what happened and Mordred worried that his papa was going to know the difference between an accident and purpose wetting. 

“I’m sorry, Papa.” He said while thinking of what to say and figured apologizing right away might help him in the long run. 

“About what, Honey?” Asked Papa as Merlin was helping Lance to sit back down onto the carpet next to the blocks. “ 

“Me did pee-pee in my pull-up.” Said Mordred as tears started filling into his eyes for he was so anxious that Papa was going to get mad. 

“Oh, Sweetheart. Don’t cry.” Papa said while reached out a hand for him to grab a hold of. “Did you have to go potty and Papa was taking care of Lance at the time?” 

“Uh-huh” Said Mordred as he stood up with Merlin’s help and looked at the spot he had been sitting in to find the carpet was stain free. “Tried to wait for you.” 

“Next time if I seem busy, you should still try to let me know.” Papa said who pulled him into a hug and gave him a reassuring back rub. “Okay, Honey.” 

“Yes, Papa.” Said Mordred with a bit of a smile for his idea had worked. 

While walking to the bathroom with Papa, Mordred knew that this couldn’t become a habit like it seemed to be with Cousin Gwaine. For there was still rule #4 to deal with and the fact that he had given up his star to be put on the calendar today. Something that Mordred kind of regretted doing now as he remembered that there were only two more stars needed for a treat. The much wanted trip to the toy store that he had been looking forward to going to on Sunday. 

 

The cure to Mordred’s blue of ruining his chances at a star for the day, was a trip to the park. Papa had come up with the idea when he was trying to get Lance to play with his toy cars with him. However, Lance had liked the plan for the late morning activity better and even picked up all the soft blocks quickly before he even had an opportunity to help. 

He could only agree that it had been the right course to take as he was climbing the monkey bars. For Mordred had been able to think clearly as his pent up energy was being released, that it wouldn’t be so bad if he had to wait until Monday to receive his reward. Since maybe the trip could include going to see Auntie Morgause at the diner before heading to the toy store. Not that his idea had to happened, it was just a suggestion he would have to talk to his daddies about. 

So he decided to stop fretting over what had been done and to enjoy his time at the park. It was easier to think than do as he was kind of having a hard at the moment with not squirming around. For Papa had given Mordred two full sippy cups of water to drink before they came to keep him hydrated. Even with his shorts back on the heat wasn’t affecting him as much as his papa had worried about. However the need to pee was strong and he was trying to ignore his bladder to give Lance some time to have fun. 

For he had realized while they were walking to the park that Cousin Lance might be sad without Auntie Gwen being around. Plus this explained to him why Papa was giving more attention to the other man. So Mordred wanted to do something nice like Lance had done for him the few times that he had to stay with just Auntie Gwen and had no daddies around.

Therefore he had at the first chance given to him, taken off toward the jungle gym area to give Lance time with his papa. From his position on top of the playground equipment, he could see that Papa was pushing the other man on the swings meant for littles in the baby group. They were strange looking seats in his option with the fact that they had openings for the legs sort of like a shopping cart. Although Lance to him looked to be giggling which made Mordred smile. 

 

While waiting his turn to go down the slide, Mordred knew he appeared to others as just an antsy little who had a hard time being patient. However his bladder was screaming at him to go tell his papa about his need to go potty. The only way to keep from doing as he was being told by his body was to do a sort of dance and hop method in order to stay in control. At least until he got down the slide of course, then it was going to be a mad dash to Papa. 

Unfortunately his plan would be ruined for just as the person in front of Mordred went down; he felt sudden warmth hit in his groin area. Mordred froze in place as the consequence of his actions for waiting too long. His eyes widened in fear that everyone around him was going to know what was going on within. Could they hear the soft hissing like he did was one of his many thoughts as he felt a tap on his shoulder.

The person behind him would ask if he was scared of the drop down which gave him an excuse to nod. Mordred moved as best he could to the side to let them have access to the slide, while his bladder was still emptying. Another little told him it was okay to be afraid especially if his caretaker wasn’t there to catch him at the bottom. 

Knowing that he wasn’t about to go down the slide with a wet squishy pull-up on, Mordred careful took the stairs back down to the sand covered ground. He felt the tears starting to fall as he looked around for Papa and Cousin Lance. Since he figured Merlin would be sympathetic to his plight which made him really need some forehead kisses at the moment. 

However he would feel worse than better as the pair of best friends were no longer at the swings. Panic started to set in that maybe Papa had gone home already without him and didn’t realizing it. Since his papa did seem to get easily distracted by Lance being around and in particular when conversation came up. 

Scared that he was here alone and Papa less, Mordred walked towards the bench area where other caretakers were to see if he could get some help. There he spotted Merlin pulling Lance in the wagon that they had used earlier when getting to the park. Not wanting to be left behind, Mordred took off in that direction unaware of the uneven pavement that he was going to encounter. Nor about that fact that Mordred would fall until he hit the concrete ground with a loud thud. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Merlin had last seen Mordred at the top of the slide and was heading toward the bottom to grab the young man. This way they could head home for lunch and then a much needed nap as Lance was already yawning. Another wait for the slide couldn’t happen in his option which might occur if he wasn’t there when Mordred was finished. For his little elf loved the slide and always tried to get one more opportunity out of him or Arthur when possible. 

So it was a bit confusing to him when he had gotten there to find no Mordred in line or at the bottom. Thinking the boy had gone back to the jungle gym area where the monkey bars were at; He grabbed the handle of the wagon to pull along. Merlin looked behind him to check on Lance to make sure his friend was still sitting when he heard crying. 

The noise sounded familiar to him and he turned in the direction to find an awful sight for a caretaker to take in. He had found his little boy and not in the way he had ever imagined, for Mordred was on the ground with a bleeding knee and scraped hands. It took all his strength to not abandon the wagon and Lance at that very moment to rush over to his baby. 

Merlin took a deep breath to calm down while he maneuvered the wagon towards Mordred. For he knew it would only make things worse if he got upset over the situation. It was bad enough that other parents had descended onto his little elf to help and that seemed to be what had cause the young man to break out into a loud sob. 

Once he had gotten to Mordred’s location, Merlin had to worm his way thought a crowd of littles and caretakers who had circled the boy to see what was going on. Merlin kneeled down once he was close enough to get a better look at Mordred’s knee while opening the green messenger bag around his shoulder. Another parent almost pushed him down saying that everything was being handled which made him slightly annoyed. 

“I’m his caretaker.” Merlin said a bit louder than necessary to get the people trying to get Mordred talking to back off as well as the other who were just around. “I have a card to prove it.” 

“Papa?!” He heard Mordred say while looking over at him as the boy’s eyes had been closed earlier as if to block out what was going on around them. 

“Oh my poor little elf.” Said Merlin as his fingers found the kit he had been searching for so he could clean and bandage the cut up knee. “You got a boo-boo.” 

“Me yucky too.” Said the young man sniffling as tears continued coming down 

Merlin knew what Mordred was referring to and decided that would have to wait until later. For the bathroom at the park were not up to his standard of cleanliness. In addition, there might be a line waiting to get in which could be around the same amount of time as it was going to take to get home. 

He made sure to keep that issue off the young man’s mind as he wiped down the scrapped up hand of his little one by talking about lunch. What to have seemed to be the right topic to go with as both littles would start debating over peanut butter, grilled cheeses or tuna sandwiches. It didn’t really matter to him as all he cared about was that Mordred was okay as today seemed to be a strange day for the young man. Especially with a second strike occurring which had never happened before. 

 

Merlin had walked into the living room from the kitchen and was glad to see his idea for nap time was a hit. As Mordred and Lance were both already laying on the sleeping bags that he had placed down over the carpet. He had been worried that this so-called indoor camping experiment that he had created might not work but was grateful it was a hit. 

Since all the other options were going to be harder to handle the two cuddle bugs with. The crib had been instantly nixed in his mind as it could barely hold Mordred and him contentedly. He knew there was Lance’s old room that after a thorough cleaning, paint job, and new furniture had been transformed in a guest room. However Merlin felt it would be too awkward with his best friend who had lived in that room to deal with it as something new. 

The final place to have three people sleep comfortably would be the master bedroom. That option was quickly dismissed as Mordred was used to being in the middle when it came to that location. Something that couldn’t be as Merlin knew he needed to be in between Lance and his boy to get both of them to sleep. 

While fretting over what to do, Merlin tried to re-call what he had done when Gwaine spend the day with Mordred and him. Then he remembered that the long haired man was use to resting on mats from the many daycare center nap sections and fine with taking a snooze in a sleeping bag on the nursery floor while he and his little elf had been in the crib. 

This notion got the light bulb to turn on inside his head since there were two bags in the hallway closet, all he had to do was zip them together for his plan to form. Merlin grabbed Shadow and Stormy as well as Mordred’s green fleece blanket from the crib to make it earlier to get the boy to fall asleep. Once that drop off had occurred, Merlin found Lance’s bag to give the other man a stuff horse named Noise who had been given to Lance by Gwen when the switch from uncles to mommy had started. 

He had gone into the kitchen when his set-up was complete, hoping that the toys would be put away as he made up bottles to help the littles fall asleep. Luck had been on his side for not only were all the playthings gone but two tired little were covered in blankets and cuddling stuffed animals. They had even left a space for him in the middle which included a pillow.

Merlin handed over a bottle of water to Lance who was not a milk drinker before sitting down in his designated spot. He knew Mordred would instantly move toward him to snuggle so he had wait to give the warm milk to the young man until he was laying down himself. There he felt a bit of serenity as he closed his eyes as everything was going according to his plan. 

 

Of course, it didn’t last for very long as Merlin felt something being pushed off him and Mordred started yelling. He would swiftly open his eyes to take in the commotion going on for Lance had started crying while Mordred kept shoving the other man’s arm off of his chest. The words “My Papa” could be heard coming out of the young man’s mouth over and over again.

Merlin sat up to block the two littles and saw in the boy’s eyes what had been causing his little elf to be out of sorts today. Jealousy had rear its ugly head which explained why Lance touching him had caused Mordred to explode. Figuring that the young man was upset over having to share him, he quickly got up to have a chat with his little elf. 

For Mordred had moved to the couch in ordered to throw pillows and he needed to stop that action before anything got hit that was breakable. He grabbed the young man to embrace into a hug to calming down the over tired and cranking boy. This feat however would cause his little elf to flop onto the non sleeping bag cover area part of the carpet to throw a tantrum. Loud screams emerged from Mordred and Merlin had barely escaped the path of kicking feet. 

Ignoring the boy was tough on him as Merlin knew at that moment; there wasn’t anything he could do to fix the problem. He understood that it would be better not to give in when Mordred was behaving this way for it would make the boy think it was an okay action. It was just hard to watch the young man wiggling in anguish. 

So Merlin decide to deal with Lance who needed comforting, he realized it had been a difficult day for all of them. He could see how Mordred would feel annoyed at his best friend for needing him more and taking away attention which didn’t happen with Gwaine or Morgana. For having a little in the baby group did require more support from the caretaker watching them. 

 

Merlin careful detached himself from the dozing Lance and walked softly over to where Mordred was laying to see if the young man had crashed. From the abrupt silence that had occurred a few seconds ago, he figured his little elf had tuckered out from all the yelling and thrashing around. He knew Mordred had already been quite tired when he had declared nap time almost an hour ago. 

However the young man would gaze toward him with red puffy eyes and a hiccupping body. The look of sorry appeared on the tear stained face when he helped Mordred to stand. Merlin decided that the young man was being true causing him to feel bad for what needed to be done. So he hugged and kissed his little elf which seemed like the best option before sending the boy off to the corner for a time out. 

 

There was only a few minutes left on the timer when Merlin saw that Mordred was getting fidgety. Not wanting to make the boy repeat the full twenty minutes, he gave the young man a quick reminder. This did work for a moment before he saw Mordred’s right leg bouncing. Knowing what that meant, Merlin could only hope that the young man’s bladder could hold on just a bit longer. 

However luck was not his side as he heard Mordred starting to sob as the timer was still counting down. This made Merlin felt somewhat defeated as it seemed nothing was going right for his little elf today. Since he had been reflecting on the morning and might have been a reason why. 

So Merlin would grab his phone to text his husband that Mordred was out with no players left up to bat. Hoping he had gotten his baseball terms correct as his husband and little were avid fans and Mordred had been kind enough to explain some of the concept to him. Plus he figured Arthur would want to be informed on what was going on and using code worked best in case someone else happened to see the text. He wondered if Arthur might have an idea on why the green eyed monster had come out. For Merlin had been wondering if perhaps there was something else than what he had been initially thinking. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Arthur entered the house knowing that he might not receive a greeting hug from his favorite little in the whole world. Especially seeing as he had left worked early after his conversation with Merlin had ended and Mordred had been down for a nap by then. He just had this nagging feeling that he needed to be here more instead since he had an inkling of what was really going on with his little knight. 

Upon entering the living room, Arthur would find Mordred sitting on the couch and cuddling a pillow. He could tell the young man was just staring at the television screen and not really taking in what was going on with the show. Luckily for him, this gave Arthur the opportunity to sneak up on the boy to launch a tickling attack. 

He didn’t even mind the pillow to his head for surprising the startled young man. All that mattered to him was the smile that found its way onto Mordred’s face. There was even an opening to blow some raspberries which Arthur knew would really get the boy into a better mood to let go of all the negativity that was surrounding the young man. 

“Hey there buddy. Heard you were having an awful day.” He said to the young man as he sat down on the couch. 

Mordred would nod at him while moving toward him to snuggle for some consoling. He placed an arm around the young man to ensure that Mordred knew he understood what was running inside that troubled mind. For even Arthur had got those jealous feeling before over the relationship that was Merlin and Lance. 

“It’s hard having Lance around, isn’t it?” Asked Arthur as he tried to gauge how Mordred was feeling. 

“Uh-huh.” Said Mordred as the young man started to play with the button on his shirt. “They finish each other’s words.” 

“Papa and Lance have been friends since grade school, Love.” Arthur said who removed his work tie that had been loosely hanging from his neck. “They have a strong connection.” 

“It’s like a long ribbon binding them together.” Said the boy who detached from him to show with both arms how lengthy the relationship was. 

“Is that so?” Said Arthur a bit puzzled by the boy’s analogy before looking at the tie in his hand. “I bet if you looked close up though you would see the rips, stains and maybe even re-sown areas”

“Really?” Asked Mordred who Arthur knew was lost at the idea of Merlin’s friendship with Lance being flawed. 

“Of course, we all have bonds with our friends and family but they’re not perfect.” Arthur said while ruffled the boy’s hair. “And what do you think about your ribbon with Papa.” 

“Dunno.” Said the young man as Mordred shrugged and took his tie to play with. 

“Well it might be short if we are going with time here. However the color is gold.” Arthur said, placing a kiss upon the boy’s forehead. “It’s a special bond that you share with Papa and me.” 

“It’s unbreakable?” Questioned the young man, while making eye contact with him to see if he was telling the truth. 

“Yes, Love. No matter what happens or who enters our lives.” Said Arthur as he fixed the neck tie the young man had been trying to figure out how to wear. “You are our little boy and no one can ever replace or take that away.” 

“Oh.” Said the young man who returned to cuddling up to him once the tie was in place. 

“Feeling better?” Arthur said as he felt the tension in the room being dissolved. 

He knew Mordred’s mind was put at ease at no longer needing to worry about being replaced by Lance. Non that of Lance wanting Merlin for a Papa as that would have happened if it had been the case years ago. Something he figured his husband had told the young man earlier but might not have truly sunk in until now. 

“Maybe.” Mordred said whose face twisted in thought. 

“What the problem, bud?” Said Arthur wondering what else could be causing the young man to be upset. 

“Had three strikes today, Daddy” Said the boy gazing toward the floor. 

“I can see that, Love.” Said Arthur while give a pat to the young man’s diapered rear. 

He bit his tongue to keep the comment on how cute the boy looked in the cookie monster diaper from coming out. For Arthur figured it would cause the young man to feel conflicted especially with how the day had been. If Mordred thought he wanted a baby little then the whole conversation that had just happened would have been for nought. 

“But that’s okay; you will be hitting them out of the park tomorrow for sure.” He heard his husband say who had been outside with Lance to allow him privacy with Mordred. 

“Be MVP too?” Asked Mordred who perked up when only Merlin came over. 

“Of course, how else would you be getting those stars?” Said Arthur while motioning for the young man to get up. “But I think right now you should go play with Lance before his mommy comes to get him.” 

“He’s missed having you around.” Merlin said who smiled at them when Mordred came over to give his husband a hug. “He likes that there's another little to play with here and I’m just boring old Uncle.” 

“Okay.” Said Mordred before the young man waddled off toward Lance and the toys that were out. 

 

Arthur smirked at his husband when Merlin came to join him to watch the two littles stacking the blocks together. He reminded Merlin how he had said over the phone that everything would be okay. Of course, his husband would bring up the fact about how he wasn’t here to experience the aftermath of diapering Mordred when rule #4 had to be enforced. 

He did remember how Merlin had cried to him via a face time chat to show Mordred huddled in a corner asleep. He could tell his husband had draped the green fleece blanket after the young man had dozed off as it was merely on top of the boy. Then there was the showing of Shadow and Stormy whom were still lying on the sleeping bag with the now cold bottle of milk.

Apparently to his husband, this was a sign to the end of their caretaker-little relationship. In addition, Merlin kept telling him that Mordred hated the dark haired man which he figured was farthest from the truth. Especially since his husband had described the behavior the young man had been displaying and that seemed like attention seeking to him. 

So he explained to his husband that Mordred was most likely upset internally and not with Merlin at all. He suggested that perhaps the young man was thinking along the same line about the relationship. It would be just like Mordred who still worried about being kept to think that they might not want to have a little who said no diapers in the beginning but was now having trouble staying dry. Arthur knew that it had been Mordred’s insecurities that had fueled the young man to act in such a way. 

 

Arthur was brought out of his thoughts when he saw Merlin’s hand entwine with his own. For the shining of his gold band wedding ring had sparked another idea into his head. Whenever he needed a reassurance of Merlin’s and his love for each other, it was there on his left ring finger to be viewed. 

However Mordred didn’t have a symbol of their love to be reminded of when the horrible thoughts came to the surface. Of course, one might argue that there was the nursery, toys, and stuffed animals but those were everyday run of the mill kind of things that anyone could gift he decided. There needed to be an object that Mordred could wear every day like their rings. 

Looking over at his little knight who was still wearing his tie, a gold chain necklace popped into his head. He quickly brought up the concept to his husband in a whisper as not to ruin the surprise when it did come for Mordred. For it was going to take him some time to find the perfect piece of jewelry for the young man. Of course, Merlin would up the design idea which makes Arthur grab his phone to start the search and hope to find a set of three.


	18. Making a splash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a day off for Arthur as it's a holiday. So the family goes for a dip in the pool at Morgause’s house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everyone,
> 
> I apologizes for not getting this chapter out last week but the forces were against me aka the characters who didn't want to be written. Thanks for your patience and the kudos, comments, and continuous support. They truly make my day and I'm honored by each and every one. So Please let me know if there are any missing tags and enjoy the chapter. 
> 
> P.S. This had been beta by the awesome littlewebby. So don't forget to thank her too for helping me with my grammar.

Chapter 18: Making a Splash.

September 5th

Arthur groaned as his mind was telling him to get up for it was Monday morning. A glance at his phone would provide the date which made him wonder how the weekend could have gone by so quickly. Of course, he knew the answer to that as he swiped his finger along to unlock his phone to turn off the alarm that was set for five minutes from now. For right there was a picture he had recently taken of his little knight with a toy helicopter on his home screen. 

He was just about to get out of bed when a reminder pops open. Squinting at his screen, Arthur read the small words telling him to go back to sleep as it was a national holiday today which meant no work. This made him smile as he put down his phone and rolled over to snuggle with Merlin. He figured his husband had written the note since there was a 'prat' at the end of it. 

However, Arthur’s hand would only find cold sheets instead of the warm body that usually laid there. Worried that something was wrong with either Mordred or his husband, Arthur jumped out of bed and almost tripped in the intertwined sheets. For the sleepiness he had felt had been replaced with adrenaline. 

Peeking inside by maneuvering into the room without touching the slightly opened nursery door, Arthur was able to see Mordred peacefully sleeping by the glow of the nightlight. He would quickly and quietly head toward the stairs in hopes to not wake the young man from his slumbering state. Since he wanted the young man to stay asleep and that wouldn’t happen if he stayed in that room or stepped on a stray toy. 

Arthur had almost moved towards the kitchen since that was usually where his husband would be having coffee and reading the newspaper or even making breakfast at this time of day. However Arthur would stop himself when he saw the bluish glow coming from the office. This led Arthur to recall that his husband had been working on a big project for his father and was probably stressing to finish it before tomorrow. 

Heading to the office, Arthur could hear Merlin mumbling which was a common occurrence when his husband was working on something. To someone else it might sound strange and almost like an unknown or lost language. However Arthur knew it was just a cute quirk that his husband had when in concentration mode sort of like the people who stuck out their tongues. 

“Don’t you dare, you dollop head.” Said Merlin to him as he was about to grab the dark haired man’s shoulders. “You were going to scare me” 

“How did you even know I was here?” Asked Arthur a bit puzzled on how his husband knew he was in the room. “And it would have been your own fault for sitting in the dark after watching that creepy movie with me last night, idiot.” 

“I heard you coming down the stairs.” Merlin said while turning the computer chair around to face him. “And don’t even say it could have been Mordred as the baby monitor is right here with me” 

“Okay, so you caught me but it would have been funny.” Said Arthur grabbed his own chair to sit in. “Your scream would have woken up the whole neighborhood.” 

“Maybe for you but who would make waffles this morning if you had.” Said Merlin who smirked at him and going back to the computer. “Especially if you caused my little elf to wake up.” 

“Just move over so I can help you get this work done before he does.” Said Arthur pushing Merlin over slightly so he could see what was on the screen. “I just checked on him and we have maybe an hour tops.” 

Arthur quickly grabbed the computer mouse from his husband’s hand to fix an error. He knew Merlin would get grouchy about his decision to take over the project. So he gave his husband the baby monitor to listen to while he typed away. Of course, he had to stop for a moment to see the glowing smile on his husband’s face at hearing the sound of a sleeping little. 

 

Arthur was just finishing up the ending to the report for Merlin when he heard his husband’s phone going off. He could only shake his head since his husband always seemed to leave the item in the most random locations. Since he had looked around the room and saw that the phone was not in the office that they had been in for the past two hours. Therefore Arthur had to go searching for the ringing device as Merlin was upstairs dealing with a just-woken-up Mordred. 

Locating the phone took some detective work as Arthur had to figure out where his husband had gone before he had found Merlin. The living room showed no sign of the phone and neither did the dining room that they hardly ever used. So he checked the last room which was like always when looking for a lost item, the kitchen. There he would find the phone dancing on the counter next to the coffee pot which was just now making the fantastic concoction that he needed to survive. 

He answered the phone with a quick 'hello' before grabbing a mug to make a cup of Joe with. Knowing that it had to be a friend or family member, Arthur figured he didn’t need to be so polite or state who he was. For who else would be calling expect someone he knew who wanted to find out if Merlin and he had plans for the day or not. 

Arthur would find himself correct as he heard Morgause’s voice wishing him an enchanting good morning. From the sound of her voice not being surprised, he realized that she knew he would be the one picking up the phone. So Arthur assumed it was due to the fact that Merlin never seemed to know where the device was half the time to answer that led her to it and not the whole third eye crazy stuff that made his skin crawl. 

Morgause laughed over the phone before asking him if his family and he were willing to come over her place for the day. She would explain to him that the diner was closed due to the holiday and the pool was going to be closed in a few days. Therefore the opportunity of today seemed like the best option in her mind which was what she told Arthur as he listened while sipping on his coffee. 

In addition, she would explain how Cenred had been afraid to go near Mordred until the opportunity had presented itself a few weeks ago. For her husband had assumed the young man would be angry and detest Cenred for helping Merlin and him with operation little. However, having gotten a chance to hang out with the boy and seeing only happiness, Cenred had started to bug her non-stop about setting up a play date. 

Arthur had to look over at the kitchen calendar even though he was sure the day had no plans marked down; he debated if it was good idea. He noticed that Merlin had just put day off for Daddy in red sharpie. So he figured it would be alright to say yes to her. Besides, Arthur kind of had a feeling she had them coming to her house in mind hours before calling.

Plus how could he say no to her after all that she had done for them as he thought of his little knight. Arthur realized he should have done something for her but she would tell him that having little Mordred spending time with her husband would brighter her day. Therefore he asked what time to be there and if she needed them to bring anything. 

Once he had ended the call with Morgause, Arthur decided it was going to be a great day as he walked toward the back door. Merlin and he had been talking about taking Mordred to an in-ground pool or the beach for a swim. However they had just forgot after a long day of work or getting things done around the house like finishing the guest room. 

This way, he figured the young man could actually go for a dive instead of slashing around in the dinky blow up pool Merlin had purchased weeks ago. Especially since he knew how much Mordred liked playing in the water. After all he had come home for work many of times to bribe the young man to come inside to eat dinner for his husband. 

 

Arthur would tell his two favorite people in the whole world about the plan for the day as they were coming down the stairs. His husband seemed excited by the whole idea and immediately started buzzing around to get things ready for the day. Seeing the smile on Merlin’s face, Arthur turned to his little knight figuring there would be a happy boy to greet him but instead Mordred looked troubled. 

“What’s the matter love?” Arthur asked as he sat down on the sofa in the living room. 

“I don’t want to wear swim diaper.” Said Mordred followed him into the room. 

He looked at the boy and smirked on the inside at the sight of Mordred in a pull-up and t-shirt. It was an adorable sight to behold and still something Merlin and he were getting used to. For it seemed the young man would never get comfortable with the whole attire of being a toddler little to be dressed like this. 

“You can wear trunks like Papa and me” Said Arthur figuring out what the problem was as he knew Mordred was still leery around others. “That way Auntie Morgause and Cousin Cenred wouldn’t even know you have a diaper on.” 

“But I still be babyish.” Said Mordred who pouted at him and play with the hem of the blue shirt the boy was wearing. 

“No buddy, it just for protection like your pull-ups.” Arthur said as he got up to give the young man a hug. “You know Papa or Daddy will still take you to the potty if need be.” 

“Okay” Said the boy snuggling into his embrace. 

Arthur felt a bit of a victory for no tears had fallen during the conversation. He knew since the 'strike three' day that Mordred tended to get upset over any talking of diapers. For after the occurrence, there had been no stars missing on the dog calendar upstairs or even minor wettings. It seemed the young man was worried about Merlin and he enforcing them and turning the boy into a baby little like Lance. Something they never plan on doing in the first place as both his husband and him enjoyed Mordred just the way the boy was. 

“I think Papa promised waffles for breakfast.” Arthur said as he kissed the young man’s forehead. 

“Really?” Said Mordred who detached from him and smiling. 

“We should go check to make sure.” Said Arthur glancing over into the kitchen where he could see Merlin. 

He could sense the anxiety that was coming off the boy and knew something was still bothering Mordred. However Arthur figured it would come out in due time when Mordred was ready to share what was the bother as it normally happened. For now however, Arthur wanted to enjoy his morning, spend the wonderful time with his family instead of stressing over work or the unknown. Therefore he tickled the young man to get a giggle and hopefully take Mordred’s mind of whatever it was as well. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Mordred had been thrilled about the idea of seeing his friend Cenred and Auntie Morgause when his daddy told him. It would be nice to spend the day with the couple outside of the diner which was something he had only done once before. There had been a get-together at their house for celebrating five years in business back in March and all the employees had been invited. 

So he knew what was in their backyard when Daddy had talked about going for a dip and it wasn’t like his small pool. Part of him had hoped for a play date similar to the ones he had with the other members of the group which were inside or hanging out at the park. Since there was something his parents didn’t know about him which was that he had never learned to swim. 

The problem had been easy to hide in the past as many people didn’t care if he just sat on the beach towel or in a fold out chair. Most often others liked the fact that someone was staying put to watch the bags and such. Therefore no one had ever pushed the issue before and just figured he was being difficult. This led Mordred to be left alone to watch everyone else have a good time and yearn for someone to teach him how. 

Mordred knew that his daddies weren’t going to leave him behind which should make him feel better but it did not. For Papa kept talking about how nice the water was going to feel once he got in while Daddy was putting sun block on him. Which made Mordred realized they were going to get him into that pool, somehow and someway. 

His brain had been panicky with what to do until the idea to stall them came to be. If he just had a reason to stay out of the water for a bit longer. Mordred figured that he couldn’t say he needed the potty as he went before leaving the bathroom after getting dressed to go swimming with Papa. Plus that wouldn’t be a long enough pause in the action as no one had entered the pool yet. 

“Mordred, don’t do that.” He heard Daddy saying and he blinked to come back to reality. “Your fingers are covered in sun block.” 

“Are your teeth bothering you, Sweetheart?” Asked Papa who gave him a worried face and stood up from the lawn chair that Merlin had been in. “I can get something for you to chew on.” 

Mordred looked down to see that he was gnawing on his left index finger and it tasted yucky. Figuring this was the ticket he was looking for; Mordred almost nodded to his papa but knew nothing would stall things long enough to keep him from getting into the pool especially since lunch time was too far way. Therefore he pulled his hand away from his mouth to tell them what was on his mind as the tears started to prick his eyes. 

“I can’t swim” He cried while waiting for them to laugh at him since he figured it was pretty ridiculous for a twenty year old not to know how. 

Of course, Mordred should have remembered how his daddies never did what he considered normal behavior. Instead of making fun of him, they placed Mordred into the middle of a love fest with comforting words. How silly he felt for pushing the part of his mind to the side that kept saying it would be okay to come clean earlier. 

“We knew that, Love.” Daddy said while pointed to Auntie Morgause who was on the diving board about to jump into the pool. “Our little blond birdie told us.” 

“I brought you a float vest to wear.” Said Papa as Merlin grabbed something off of the lawn chair that Mordred hadn’t noticed before. “Cenred is already wearing his.” 

Mordred looking over at his friend who was wearing what appeared to be similar to a life jacket. He could only watch and wait to see what happened as Cenred entered the pool via a stairway that was build into the ground. Seeing with his own two eyes that Cousin Cenred hadn’t sunk to the bottom of the pool like he had imaged would happen to himself, Mordred felt like getting in the water wouldn’t be so scary now. It was even more inviting when Auntie Morgause finally dove in getting them all a bit wet in the process with the big splash. 

 

The water was a bit nippy as Mordred stuck his foot in as he started following Daddy into the pool. He turned his head back to see Papa standing behind him to make sure to be there in case anything happened. Like if he got too scared to go in but Mordred was determined to try this float vest out. Since he wanted to join in the fun of being in the pool for once and maybe learn how to swim. 

For his daddies had talked about helping him learn and maybe getting lessons at a school if need be. Even Cenred had joined in by showing Mordred several different types of swimming techniques. Of course, his favorite had to be the doggie paddle as it allowed him to imagine that he was a fluffy black dog like Shadow. 

Mordred was enjoying his time using a kickboard while Papa was swimming along side of him. Merlin and he had stayed in the shallow end of the pool so as not to get in the way of the so-called serious swimmers. Since Daddy and Auntie Morgause were in a challenge at the moment about who could do the better dive. 

Cenred came by to show him how frogs swam and Mordred decide to give it a try as well. He almost had the hang of how to move his arms and legs similar to how he had been shown when Arthur appeared out of nowhere. Of course Mordred had been a bit taken back by his daddy’s arrive as it had been sudden and maybe he should have been paying more attention to where he was going. For Mordred had crossed the line and was in the deep end. 

“Hey buddy, are you having fun?” Asked Daddy who smirk at him. 

“Uh-huh, swimming like Kermit.” Said Mordred before his brain started panicky at how his feet couldn’t touch the bottom. “Want to go back to Papa now.” 

“It’s alright, Love. There nothing for you to get scared about.” Daddy said while allowing him to wrap his shaking arms around Arthur’s neck. “You are safe here with me.” 

Mordred nodded but seeing his papa standing in the shallow section which made his desire to go back grow. This area was a bit too intimating for the novice swimmer who started pleading with Arthur to not let go when Daddy grabbed his hands to hold. Feeling his daddy moving away from him, Mordred almost started to tear up in the anxiety of being left alone in the deep end. 

“You’re going to swim back to Papa. So don’t cry, Love” Said Daddy who started moving them toward that part of the pool. “Just kick like you were with the board earlier.” 

“I left it behind.” Said Mordred as he realized it floated away when he started to use both his arms and legs. 

“It’s all right, buddy.” Said Daddy while give him a reassuring grin. “Just pretend, Okay.” 

“Okay” said Mordred who started kicking his feet harder than he had done before to hopeful get back to the shallow end quickly. 

Once he had crossed the line and swam to Papa, Mordred let go of Arthur’s hands to stand up. The feeling of the tile flooring underneath his feet instantly calmed his beating-out-of-his-chest heart. Even if his daddies were smiling at him with praise words of 'good job', Mordred decide that this part of the pool was where he was going to hang out. 

 

Mordred was playing a game of water basketball with Cenred while the adults were having another competition with the diving board. Papa had somehow gotten roped in to this one and Mordred would ever so often look over to watch one of his daddies. He clapped his hands after Daddy dived which had very little splash and gave it a 10 in his head.

He had just gotten a shot in the basket when Mordred sensed someone was coming up to him. Turning around, Mordred would find both his daddies swimming towards him in a hasty way. He giggled when Daddy reached him first and was declared the winner of the race by tagging him. 

“You cheated, prat." Said Papa what splashed the blond haired man. 

“No, I clearly said we were going on two not three.” Said Daddy grinned and winked at him. “Beside I had to win something since Morgause won the diving.” 

“Wait, who was scoring the dives?”Asked Papa as Merlin gave them a confused face. “Did I miss something?” 

“The judge, Lucy was bias.” Daddy said while moving closer to the edge of the pool to lean against it. 

“Lucy?” Questioned Papa started looking around the backyard. “Have we met her before?” 

Mordred could only giggle at Papa for thinking that Lucy was a person. He knew what Lucy was and had even played with her a few times in the past. Since Cenred had often brought her to the diner to be watched in Morgause office. He was just about to open his mouth to tell Papa about Lucy when there was a big splash. 

“That’s Lucy” He said while pointing to the yellow Labrador retriever swimming by them. “Me can swim like her.” 

“You can?” Asked Daddy who moved toward him. “Do you want to show Daddy?” 

“Yea,” said Mordred who got excited about performing his new skill. 

He started off slowly as if to teach Daddy how to doggie paddle and couldn’t help smile when Arthur played along. For part of him knew that the blond haired man already knew how to swim like this. However it was still fun to goof around with his daddies and hear them clapping at his wonderful demonstration. Since this was one achievement that Mordred had never imaged would be checked off his list of things to learn. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Merlin can feel his teeth starting to chatter and knew it was time to head out of the pool. The only difficulty with his plan was that there were no other adults left swimming and he couldn’t leave Mordred alone. He had told Arthur that Mordred was a water lover which meant getting the young man out of the pool was going to be an obstacle. 

So he decided to sit on the edge of the pool with his feet in the water and watch the young man. This way if anything happen, Merlin could easily jump right back in. He had been hoping that Mordred would have followed him out when he did but the boy was still content to splashing around and doggie paddle. 

Then Cenred had re-joined into the playing in the water which meant he had two littles to keep an eye on as Morgause had gone inside a while ago to make lunch. He was a bit miffed about that as Arthur had forgotten to tell him about the whole meal-after-swim arrangement. Since he knew there would have been something at home that he could have easily made to bring over to help out. 

Thinking of Arthur, Merlin would wonder what was taking him so long. For Arthur had gone to change into regular clothing a while ago. His husband and he had planned to have a quiet evening at home with Mordred. For tomorrow was going to be a tough one on his little elf as they needed to be in the office all day and Auntie Gwen was on vacation until the end of next week. Therefore daycare seemed like the only option and he knew Mordred would need some daddies’ cuddles tonight to make up for it. 

 

Merlin was just about to jump back into the water to steer Mordred to the stairs and hopeful out of the pool when Morgause returned from inside. Her announcement of lunch being ready got both littles out of the water as Cenred had declared a race to the picnic table. Apparently the menu consisted of hot dogs, barbecue chips, and apple juice happened to be Morgause husband’s favorites which explained to him the sudden rush. 

Of course, Mordred would run toward him instead of the picnic table and Merlin knew why if the shivering was anything to go by. He wrapped the boy in a dry warm towel which if Mordred allowed him to put the hood up would resemble a monkey. It seemed luck was on his side or perhaps the young man was just cold but the cute factor certainly rose by 30 percent in his mind. 

Merlin had gotten the idea after watching the boy climbing the jungle gym at the park. After searching the web and finding only duck, bunnies, and doggy towel, Merlin had designed one and had sent the idea to the company who loved it. He even got an approving nod from Morgause as they joined the already eating Cenred who smiled as well at his cute little boy turned monkey. 

 

Merlin watched the two littles now dressed and full from stuffing their faces, running toward Cenred’s little room to play. This finally gave Arthur and him the chance they had been hoping for with Morgause. As his husband and him were both worried about Mordred. The young man had reversed after being diapered in the daytime that strange day over a week ago. For ever since that day, the boy spent most of the time in yellow mood with a glimpse of green every so often like earlier today while in the pool. 

“I see your world has been turn sideways.” Said Morgause as she sat at her dining room table and opened her arms in a way to express for them to join her. “And you seek my advice to fix it.” 

“Exactly.” Merlin said while thanking his husband for pulling a chair out of him. “Mordred has been out of sorts as of lately.” 

“Yes, he saw what could be his future self.” Said Morgause, while she poured hot water from a kettle she had already set up into tea cups. “There is a fork in his path and the one he was about to head toward scared him.” 

“Is there anything we can do?” Asked Arthur who seemed to be concerned as he felt. 

“Just give him support.” Morgause said as she handed over a tea cups to each of them. 

“I should have been paying more attention to him” Said Merlin feeling that he was to blame for the torment that his little elf was suffering. “If only I caught the signs sooner.” 

“Do not live in the past Merlin, for you will miss the present.” Said Morgause who was adding sugar to her tea and giving him don’t make me come over to shake some sense into you look. “It would have happen whether it was then or later in the journey.” 

“So there was no way to have prevented this from happening?” Asked his husband as the blond haired man took his cup from his shaking hands. 

“No, Mordred would have arrived at this crossroad eventually. “ Morgause said causally taking a sip of her tea. “A locked door inside of him was opened which caused this reaction to occur. He will have to figure out what is okay with him to move forward” 

“He had to make this decision on his own?” Question Merlin nervously as he knew the young man had difficulty with choices. 

“Oh don’t worry about that.” Morgause said taking a cookie from a plate before passing it to his husband. “Someone who he looks up to like a brother will be there for him.” 

“So we just have to sit back and wait then.” Said his husband who Merlin could tell seemed to be feeling better from this conversation. 

“It might be a while until the world is back to normal.” Morgause said as she smiled at them with a glint in her eye. “However everything will be just fine.” 

Merlin would sigh in relief while taking back his cup of tea from Arthur. It didn’t seem like the young man was miserable or ready to give up on their caretaker-little relationship. Just an internal battle within Mordred had been brewing and he could only hope it was resolved quickly. For Merlin truly missed his happy and carefree little elf. 

 

After their tea and all the cookies had been consumed among them, Morgause would suggest they should check on the boys. For neither little had come out to bug them nor was there a noise to be heard from Cenred’s little room. So Arthur and he would follow her towards the bedroom/playroom to see what might be occurring in the room. 

Instead of the mischief ideas that had been running inside of his mind, the door opened to reveal an adorable sight. For Mordred and Cenred had fallen asleep while playing and were sprawled on the floor. This would cause an awe reaction to occur between Morgause and himself as there were still toys in each of the littles’ hands. 

Careful as not to wake the dozing young man, Merlin would pick up the toys around to keep injuries from occurring. Since it wouldn’t do well for tiny pieces of building blocks to get stuck in the boy’s hair or be imprinted on skin. Even Morgause who had been taking photos to document the wonderful scene would help him before guiding him out of the room. 

Morgause had sensed Mordred wake up if they stay in the room any longer, something Arthur and he knew all too well. That got his husband and him telling her funny stories about how they had woken the young man as they walked back towards the dining room. Of course, this led the conversation to flow with Morgause speaking about her own tales of Cenred. Something that made Merlin feel like everything would be okay as she told them of the time her husband had to make a difficult decision and things worked out for the best.


	19. Party Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Morgana's birthday party!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Everyone,
> 
> Hope you are all doing well.Thanks you for all the kudos and comments, I still smile when I check my inbox. I hope you enjoy this chapter and have a great night! Please let me know if I'm missing any Tags. Thanks!
> 
> P.S. This has been edited by littlewebby!

September 24th

Mordred was sitting in his car seat as Daddy drove towards the party and wondered if the present next to him was going to be well-received. For today was Morgana’s birthday and underneath the wrapping was a pretty doll with long brown hair and green eyes. Something he had picked out after watching her and other littles talking over a magazine at daycare a few weeks back.

He had told Papa about it on their way home that day as Mordred had been given an invitation to her birthday party. He would explain how Morgana had been smitten with the one that looked just like her. Of course Daddy had to approve the purchase as well as Uncle Leon before a trip to the toy store was made.

Then Papa had gotten the crazy idea which made Mordred feel like Morgana was going to love the doll even more if that was possible. With Auntie Gwen agreeing to the project, a dress for Morgana and a similar one for the doll were made. The gown would hopefully, be worn by the birthday girl today as an earlier gift from Auntie Gwen and Cousin Lance. This was what made him nervous for Morgana might not like the outfit and therefore the doll as well.

However upon arrival, Mordred would see Morgana running toward the car in the purple dress created by Gwen. The huge smile upon her face made all the pressure over the present he was feeling wash away. If only he didn’t have to wait until later for her to actually open the gift was his thought as Papa helped him out of the Blue Tucson. Since Morgana’s hair had been done up just like the doll’s and might not last once it became time to open presents.

 

Upon entering the backyard, Mordred saw that the rest of the group had been at the party for a while. Lance was in the corner sitting on a fleece blanket surrender by soft toys with a girl little who he didn’t know. Whereas Cenred and a few of the littles he had met at daycare were playing soccer and he figured they wouldn’t mind if he joined since it looked like an uneven amount of people.

Mordred was just about to head in that direction when he saw Gwaine who had been originally sitting with Uncle Percy when he came in, flying over towards him. He couldn’t help but giggle at the long haired man who was making airplane sounds and had arms stretched out while tilting them from side to side. Caught up in the character, Mordred would act like an air controller to safely land Gwaine a few inches in front of him.

The long haired man would laugh before giving him a bear hug. Something that Mordred hadn’t realized he needed until that moment. Perhaps his best friend had seen how concerned he was feeling about being at this event. Since most birthday parties he had attended, had been him off to the side and watching the festivity but never participating. It seemed he didn’t have to be nervous about being a goof ball as Gwaine would be right there alongside him.

 

Mordred stopped to catch his breath as he had been chasing Gwaine for quite a while now in a game of tag. Of course, there was another issue that made him need to take a moment. He had hoped that the long haired man would keep going but that wouldn’t be the case as Gwaine was heading his way.

“You’re wearing a diaper.” Said Gwaine who horrified him by pulling on his shorts to reveal for the belief second what was underneath.

“I already knew.” Said Mordred a bit miffed at his best friend. “Why did you do that?”

“The potty dance you are doing is making it hard for me to believe you did.” Said Gwaine who started moving around like he knew he was. “And I can see your wheels turning.”

“I was just about to go tell one of my daddies.” Mordred said who looked over towards the grownups.

“No, you weren’t.” Said Gwaine as the long haired man gave him a 'yeah right' look. “You mister shy and quiet stand no chance of waiting for an option to speak.

“Why?” Said Mordred confused while shifting from foot to foot.

“Your papa is talking to Auntie Gwen, my Papa and Miss Morgause” Said Gwaine pointing toward one group of adult and then to another. “And your daddy having a chat with Uncle Leon and Elyan over at the grill.”

“So, I can hold it for a little longer and maybe one of them will come to see me.” Said Mordred trying to logically figure out what he was going to do.

“Or you could just let it be free.” Gwaine said while giving him a wink of an eye.

“Not an option.” Mordred said with a frown on his face.

“It could be if you got rid of that block in your head.” Said Gwaine poking Mordred’s forehead and making him go cross eyed.

“Huh?” Said Mordred confused on what his friend was referring to.

“Somewhere a long time ago, someone made you feel ashamed for wearing diapers” Said Gwaine who walked around him. “And it stuck in your brain right now.”

Mordred remembered the awful memory that had been locked and hiding in his mind somewhere, until that late August day. It had come back to haunt and made Mordred doubt the life he was living. For a staff member at a group home had mentally scarred him when he was nine by diapering him in the daytime. The person had told Mordred only babies wet the bed and he was going to be treated like one until he stopped the foolish action.

Of course, it had been embarrassing and humiliating to him at the time. Especially with all the other kids living there who had already called him a freak, it was like adding more fuel to the fire. The weeks at that house had been insufferable and made Mordred terrified of wearing diapers outside of nighttime.

So when Merlin had to change him after his three strikes in the afternoon, Mordred had a stroll down memory lane. He feared that his daddies would act like that nasty person towards him and even if they hadn’t as of yet, they just might start if he had to wear diapers more frequently. One of the reasons he had fought with them over the one he was wearing now.

“Don’t want to be a baby.” Mordred said while shuddering at the thought.

“Did I say that? No, I don’t think so.” Said Gwaine huffed at him. “You can wear diapers and still be a toddler little. I know plenty of friends who do.”

“Really?” Asked Mordred who hadn’t realized that was an option.

“Yes and there's nothing wrong with being a baby little either.” Gwaine said as the long haired man looking Mordred in the eyes. “Remember I was once one.”

“But my daddies might not want a baby little especially after Lance.” Said Mordred nervously looked down at the grass and his Velcro shoes. “So I got to stay this way so I don’t go down.”

“No, your papa and daddy love you not matter what and you know that.” Said Gwaine as the long haired man poked him in the tummy. “But I get it. That lifestyle can be scary to enter since dependency is a huge factor.”

“They might hate me for forcing it on them.” Said Mordred looked up and almost bumping heads with Gwaine.

“You should know that your daddies have taken care of the different categories for years.” Gwaine said while pointing to himself, Lance and then Morgana. “They just want you to be happy and don’t mind which one you decide to be.”

“Oh.” Said Mordred as he took in the fact shown to him.

“Yeah, just so you know it's just a few clicks of the mouse and keystrokes to change your level.” Said Gwaine who actually smirked at him with a satisfied 'I win' kind of look. “So don’t be afraid of what might be ahead, just let it happen. Who knows you might like it better than the way things are now.”

“Thank you.” Said Mordred as his doubts blew away with the wind.

“No problem, it’s what friends do.” Said Gwaine before giving him a puzzled look “And you still need to go?”

“Yes, why?” Asked Mordred who was standing with his legs as tightly together as possible.

“Wow, I thought you would have gone by the time the conversation was over.” Gwaine said who suddenly seemed to have an idea. “You have done it before right?”

“What?” Questioned Mordred now confused on what they were talking about.

“Purposely wet yourself.” Said Gwaine while whispering in his ear.

“Once and it caused everything to spiral.” Said Mordred who wasn’t sure a repeat was going to make things better.

“That’s because you started worrying about what it meant instead of just being.” Gwaine said while rolling eyes at him. “Just stand like me with your legs spread apart.”

“If I do that, I’m going to pee.” Said Mordred who was shaking but doing as told.

“That’s the plan, Mor. Just close your eyes” Said Gwaine in a calming voice. “Think of being in the wood and standing in front of a tree since I know you need to imagine things to get the drain to open.”

Mordred could sense that his face was heating up at Gwaine’s observation but did know it was correct. It was nice to take control of what was happening and to realize that the diaper didn’t wear him, he wore the diaper. So he sighed in relief as his bladder gave to his demand and slowly started to empty into the waiting absorbent padding below.

Just as he felt free from the agony within himself in more ways than one, Mordred heard a loud hissing sound and opened his eyes. Shock hit him as he saw a dark spot growing on Gwaine’s shorts and a trail of yellow running down the long haired man’s legs. He almost wanted to say something but saw the smile on Gwaine’s face and knew it wasn’t an accident.

“Sorry mate, needed to wee myself.” Gwaine said while looking down at the damaged shorts. “Always glad to have a pal going along for the ride.”

“Your Papa going to be mad.” Said Mordred worried for his friend and looking around to see if anyone else had noticed.

“No, he might be a bit disappointed in me but never angry.” Said Gwaine as the long haired man took off the damp shoes and socks. “Besides, he should have known to never put me in Spiderman undies during a event like this.”

“But you’ll have to stay in yucky clothes.” Said Mordred figuring from his past experience a long time ago what would happen.

“You are wrong again, Mor.” Gwaine said while ruffling his hair before walking away. “Papa always prepared for things like this and so does your daddies.”

Mordred would watch as Gwaine moved with confidence over to the group of talking adults. He saw the look that Uncle Percy gave the long haired man and it was just like Gwaine had said. No yelling or angry words just a shake of the head and a hand to hold to escort to the bathroom to be clean up.

This caused him to realize that Gwaine had done it just to prove a point to him. So Mordred decided not to get upset when he noticed Papa started heading toward him. He even let Merlin check his diaper without trying to run away, saying no, or getting tear eyed.

Since he understood now that his daddies were never going to dislike him when it came to diapers or being what he considered babyish. He felt awful for how he had been around them lately and hoped to make up the lost time. Therefore Mordred grabbed hold of Papa’s hand a little tighter to send his love towards Merlin as they were heading toward the house.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Arthur turned around after he placed the very-well-done grilled hamburger on a fancy tray onto the picnic table. He had this strange feeling which made the need to see what was going on behind him mandatory. Since he had been about to make a plate of food after helping Leon work on the grill.

There he would find Merlin and Mordred exiting Leon’s and Morgana’s house via the sliding door to re-enter the backyard. It had been a bit of surprise to him that the young man hadn’t thrown a tantrum earlier when he saw his husband had collected Mordred for a diaper change. It was as if things were finally getting back to the way they use to be. When Arthur looked into the boy’s face, he saw something that told him he was correct.

So it was instinctive for him to open his arms as Mordred let go of Merlin’s hand to run toward him. The young man had the biggest smile that Arthur had seen on the boy since the middle of August. This in his mind could only be one very important piece of information, his little knight had returned to him.

It was confirmed when Mordred snuggled into the hug before asking him to bend down to receive a kiss on the cheek. Oh how he had missed this extra cuddly love bug that didn’t think about it but did instead. As slightly but not really little Mordred had a tendency to analyzing the, next move.

Therefore it was wonderful to see green card mood again and he knew that this wasn’t going to be a brief moment. No, Arthur could tell that full on little Mordred was sticking around, at least for a few days or maybe if Merlin and he were lucky a week. Since the red card young man would have to come out eventually to continue with the classes for this semester.

Of course, the school was an online program for littles which meant the teacher would be understandable. So it would be okay if the boy missed a day or two since his husband had written them a note to explain what had happened back in the beginning of the term. Especially with the fact of how long it had been without the young man being truly little. This could only result in Mordred having a difficult time going back up to being an adult.

Arthur was brought out of his thoughts process when Merlin whispered in his ear if he had figured out who it had been. Lost for a moment on what his husband was referring to, Arthur would remember Morgause’s words. Someone had helped their little boy get back to this way and it had to be another little who Mordred trusted.

He looks over at Morgause who just smiles at them before coming over to say their world had been restored. She would give them good-bye hugs before she went off to collect Cenred as they had to return to the diner for the late afternoon/ early evening supper rush. On that topic, Arthur realized that it hadn’t been her husband as Mordred hadn’t been playing soccer.

Reviewing the whereabouts of his little knight thought the party earlier; Arthur would cross off Lance since Mordred had not been sitting or around that blanket area. He thought of Morgana for a second before the word 'brother' popped in his head which meant she was out. However there was one little who had been playing with Mordred and sometimes it felt like this male knew Mordred better than Merlin and him, Gwaine.

Suddenly it all made sense to Arthur as he looked over at the long haired man who was wearing different clothing. Gwaine as usually had done something bold and what many others might consider extreme in order for Mordred to see the light. He would have to find a way to thank Gwaine who apparently seemed to be the young man’s close ally and best friend.

 

Arthur noticed the infamous Mordred nose twitch as he started to sit down across from the young man at the picnic table. It would take him a few seconds of watching the boy eat to figure out what had caused the reaction to occur. Then Arthur saw that the potato salad made by Gwen was the culprit as Mordred would do it again before using a sippy cup mostly full with orange juice to chase down the taste.

This was when he became aware of who was sitting next to Mordred and it happened to be Gwen. Of course, that explained why his little was suffering though the side dish. For the young man didn’t want to upset her by telling him or Merlin about not liking it. Especially since Gwen had probably told Mordred all about how it was a family hand down for generation recipe and the paprika was added just to give it an extra kick.

So Arthur does what he feels would be the logical move to make, he would “steal” the potato salad off of the boy’s plate. Beside it was a usual occasion for Merlin and him to grab something from each other’s plate and Mordred seemed to share their habit. Since the boy liked to pilfer food off from Merlin’s and his plates when given the opportunity.

“Arthur!” He heard which caused him to look at his husband who gave him a confused look before turning to an angry Gwen.

“What?” Arthur said as he had just stabbed his fork into one of the creamy potato on the boy’s plate.

“Don’t play that game with me, mister.” Said Gwen as she gave him a stare down and crossed her arms. “You forgot to get some potato salad and are too lazy to get up. So you are taking from your own little. Shame on you.”

“Mordred doesn’t mind, we do it all the time.” Said Merlin tried to save him from her wrath by adding some of the pasta salad that his husband had made to Mordred’s plate from his. “See, we share.”

Apparently his husband had seen the twitch as well and knew why he was opting to grab the unwanted-but-forced-to-eat potato salad. So Arthur just smiled at her while placing the boy’s portion of her homemade dish onto his own plate. Since it wouldn’t be good at the moment to explain how the young man was one of the few who were not a fan of the dish.

“Daddy takes bacon too.” Said Mordred piped into the conversation. “Papa helps him but then me get more.”

“And explain to Auntie Gwen what you like to do.” Said Arthur trying to show her how it was okay.

“Me take my daddies toast. “ Said Mordred as the boy smiled at her. “Cause they have yummy jelly on them.”

“Does it taste better than your own?” Said Gwen in a sweet voice and had obviously melted at the cute explanation from Mordred.

“Uh-huh. Daddy puts lots of butter.” His little knight said while nodding. “And Papa puts two kinds of it on his.”

Arthur was grateful that Mordred had spoken up as it saved him from the harsh word lashing he would have received by Gwen. Somehow it seemed it would have been better to explain the truth but the smile on her face made it so difficult. Plus he had seen the beautiful dress his sister was wearing and there was no way he could upset the seamstress today.

So he would most likely have to tell her at another function where Mordred and potato salad meet again and knew she might be a bit offended for being lied to. However Arthur figured she would understand as everyone had a habit of forgoing the truth sometimes. Like how Lance had gone vegetarian for three months just because the other man had a dislike for her meatloaf.

 

Arthur watched as Gwaine and Mordred sat down next to each other on the grass as it was time for Morgana to open her presents. Seeing that the two littles whispering to each other, Arthur figured Gwaine was reassuring his little about the present. This reminded him of what he had been thinking about earlier and would led him to head over to talk to Percy.

There while conversing with the tall man, Arthur would be told how Gwaine simply wanted a sleepover with Mordred. Knowing how helpful the long haired man had been to the young man in the way of being little, he figured it would be necessary to try to make that happen. Of course, Merlin’s approval and a look at their calendar vs. Percy’s would have to be checked to find a night that worked for everyone.

This got him thinking of how it would be wise to hint the idea to Mordred to see how the boy might take it. For the young man hadn’t spent a night without having Merlin and him nearby if needed. In addition, who knows what Merlin’s and his reaction to being in an empty house with no little upstairs be.

While discussing these facts with Percy to get the tall man's opinion, Arthur saw Leon handing over their present for Morgana. It was the fourth to last gift as the other’s all had something to do with the doll and it would be a ruined surprised if the doll bed made by Gwaine and Percival was opened first. The same could be said about the clothes that Gwen had made for the doll out of extra material that she had from old projects.

Then there was the last present from Leon which was a princess bicycle that Morgana had wanted and this model came with a smaller version for the doll. So it was all organized on how the birthday girl would open her gifts days ago to ensure everything went according to plan. However at the moment something that wasn’t expected by him or the others had occurred and that was Morgana being in shock as she saw what had been wrapped up.

Morgana would start sobbing before hugging the doll and Arthur knew another little who might join her. For Arthur could see Mordred had been about to get up and it seemed Gwaine had said something to get the boy to sit back down. Therefore he rushed off and apologized to Percy for cutting their talk short.

Once he was next to his little knight, Arthur kneeled down to comfort the young man who he could tell was upset. He waited until Gwaine had finished speaking about how everyone got emotional over the best gifts they received, which led him to remember about Mordred’s reaction to the nursery when Merlin and he had presented it. So with his mind made up on what to say, Arthur sat down to allow the boy to cuddle with him.

“They’re happy tears, Love.” Said Arthur while wrapping an arm around the young man. “It’s the same as the time you cried when Cousin Gwaine and Uncle Percy gave you Stormy.”

“She likes it?” Mordred questioned while staring down.

“Do you see her hugging it?” Asked Arthur who pulled the young man’s chin up to see into the sad blue eyes and received a shake of the head. “I think that proves how much she likes it.”

Arthur noticed that Morgana was no longer in her chair of honor and he looked around to find her heading toward them with the doll in hand. A huge smile sat upon her face as the tears had been wiped away. He would guide Mordred to stand with him as she moved closer and was taken back when Morgana gave them both a tight squeezed hug. For it seemed they had gotten her a dream come true as she had been pining over the doll for years.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Merlin told himself that he needed to stay strong as he watched Mordred eat a piece of cake. For the young man had a frosting covered face and he needed to wait until the boy was finished to wipe it off. Since it would make a cute photo opportunity and it was rare to get such a full face picture from Mordred who had become wise to his husband and his shutter bug nature.

“Does it taste good Sweetheart?” Asked Merlin who beamed at his little elf.

“Uh-Huh.” Said Mordred while offer him a fork full of cake. “Want some!”

“Thank you.” Said Merlin taking a bite and grateful for the turn of events that happened earlier today. “Just don’t give any to Daddy”

“Hey!” Said Arthur who elbowed him as his husband was sitting next to him. “That’s not fair.”

“Coming from the man who already had two slices. “ Said Merlin, turned his head toward his husband. “If you don’t watch it, I’m going to have to get you bigger belt, Prat.”

While enjoying their usual banter of nicknames where Arthur calls him a girl at the end, Merlin would quickly get his shot. For Mordred wouldn’t see it coming as he acted like his attention was more focused on his husband than the young man. Of course, Merlin made sure to clean the messy face afterwards which he received a whine before he tickled the boy’s tummy for a giggle or two.

Just as he was about to check to see if Mordred needed dry pants, Morgana came up to them to thank them again for their gifts. She would explain that she had never told her Daddy about wanting the doll from the magazine since her first toy as a little had been her Raggedy Ann doll. That had been given to her by the curly haired man and meant the world to her just like Shadow to Mordred.

“Raggedy Ann not mad” Said Mordred who Merlin could tell seemed concerned about upsetting the precious doll that might be one upped by their present.

“No, don’t worry Momo; she will like being able to stay in bed and wouldn’t have to go in the washer all the time” Said Morgana hugging the young man. “And her and Angie are going to be friends too.”

“Just like Stormy and Shadow.” Said Merlin who patted the boy’s bottom in a playful way but in reality was inspecting the status of the diaper.

“Oh, yeah” said Mordred smiling at him and then towards Morgana “Best friends and they no mind sharing me”

“Then my dolls will be the same way.” Morgana said while grin at them and letting go of Mordred. “Daddy said we can play games soon."

Merlin was just about to thank her for the information when she walked away, most likely in his mind to thanks others. Since many of the party guest were heading home as it was getting late into the evening. While he knew for his own sanity it would be a smart idea to let the young man run off the sugary dessert and games seemed like a great option for just that.

However before he could let Mordred run free to join Gwaine who seemed to be waiting for the young man to play, there was another matter of business that needed to be taken care of. Casually as one could at a party where friends wanted to stop and chat, Merlin with Mordred in tow made their way toward indoors. Grateful that everyone seemed to understand and not state the obvious, they entered the house without a tear spilled or a scene created.

 

Merlin and his husband were chatting with Gwen over Halloween costumes, when he saw folding chairs being carried over by Percival and Leon to the center of the yard. Realizing that the games were about to start, Merlin looked around for Mordred who had been playing on a blanket with Lance the last time he checked. He would find the young man running after Gwaine in a game of tag and stopped them before anyone ran into the setting up of chairs.

He felt that this part of the party was going to be interesting for Arthur and him as they usually didn’t have their own little to cheer on. In the past, they would rally for one of their friends and most often whoever looked close to winning. So it was going to be an experience for them as he watched Mordred stand next to Morgana and Gwaine as the music started to play for the first round of musical chairs.

Luckily for Arthur and him, Mordred didn’t seem disappointed when losing the game. The boy just shrugged before hanging out with Gwaine who lost an earlier round to see how the game would end. Of course, everyone clapped for one of Morgana’s friends who won in the end and was rewarded with a princess’s crown.

The next game turned out to be pining the tail on the donkey. This caused many bouts of laughter from the grownups at watching the blindfolded dizzy littles missing the targets and hit the head or body. When it was Mordred’s turn, he made sure there was a smile on his face and his hands in a thumps up position as did Arthur to show support to the young man. Which must have helped as Mordred would almost land the tail next to the designated location.

Of course, the rest of the players had to take their turns before his little elf was declared the winner. This caused him to chuckle when his husband whistled and clapped loudly at the boy’s victory. In addition, it was amazing to seeing Mordred running toward them with a crown on the boy’s head and a huge smile.

“Papa! Daddy!” Said Mordred as the boy hugged both of them at the same time. “Got my own crown.”

“Congratulations, Sweetheart.” Said Merlin gave Mordred a forehead kiss. “Papa knew you could do it.”

“That’s awesome, buddy” Said his husband tickling the young man to get a giggle. “Are you a prince now?”

“Yep! Me an elf knight prince.” Mordred said who beamed at Arthur and him before running off to rejoin the games.

Arthur and he would share a look at the remarkable title that the young man had just given them. Seeing Gwen watching the actives just a few feet away from them, the two of them would start discussing how that could work out. Since his husband and he wanted to make Halloween special for Mordred and his head was at the moment filled with wonderful concepts and several ideas.


	20. Spending time apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is what happens when Mordred has to spend time apart from his daddies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Everyone,
> 
> Hope you are doing well. Thank you for all the kudos and comments, they are awesome. Please enjoy this chapter and let me know if there are any tags that I might have missed.
> 
> P.S. This chapter has been edited by the wonderful littlewebbie. I thank her for keeping me sane.

October 13th

Arthur hadn’t imagined the possibility that was turning into reality when he thought of Mordred’s and Gwaine’s sleepover. Percival, his husband, and he had discussed having Gwaine over their house as Mordred hadn’t been without his daddies for the bedtime routine yet. Knowing the issues that might occur with his little knight, they had all agreed to the arrangement.

He figured it would be a trial of sorts to see if the first one was successful. Then Merlin and he could get the ball rolling to have Mordred staying the night with Percy and Gwaine. Such as letting the young man spend more time over the other couple’s house which didn’t happen often as Gwen seemed to be their number one go to person as of late.

However it seemed the plan was going to be altered majorly. For his husband and he had to go on a business trip for a potential new lucrative client across the country. Therefore the sleepover was going to happen at Percy’s and Gwaine’s house and it would be for two nights instead of the one that had been agreed days ago.

Of course, Mordred had been quite upset when Merlin and he had sat down with the young man to explain what was going to come about in the next couple of days. The crying boy who begged them to be able to tag along on the trip had caused him to ask his father which was a huge deal to Arthur. Unfortunately, Uther would deny the requested stating how the young man might be a distraction to the other employees going along and that it was not a family outing.

This made Merlin who seemed to have a way with Uther, ask to be removed as the main designer for the trip. Since it would allow for his husband to stay home with Mordred and one parent being around would calm the boy. However his father would reject that pitch because George who was the next in line in the design department didn’t work well with him.

Uther had blabbed about Merlin and him being two sides of the same coin or was it on the same page, he couldn’t remember. Arthur had been too busy thinking about how devastated Mordred was going to be while listening to his father’s reasoning. Since his husband and him had not been able to solve the dilemma of Mordred going two full days without them.

So it was with a heavy heart that Arthur woke the young man up from what appeared to be a restful sleep to head over to Percy’s and Gwaine’s house. For Merlin and he had an early flight to catch and they wanted to have a moment to tell Mordred how much they loved the young man. Even if his husband and he had to repeat themselves a million and one times for it to stick into the boy’s brain.

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Percival had been awake for quite a while as he waited for his friends to arrive. Reading an article on different sanding techniques had been his way of passing time before he saw the headlights of a car pulling into his driveway. This allowed him to reach the side door before the bell could go off as Gwaine was still asleep and a bear was not something he wanted to deal with today.

A red eyed Mordred who was clinging to Arthur was what greeted him as he opened the door. Percy, having figured this was going to be a difficult day for the young man, had allowed them to enter without making a pleasantry remark. He waited for Merlin who was carrying several bags which was puzzling since 'how many did the boy need?' went through his head.

Saying a quiet hello to the dark haired man, Percival closed the door before following his friends toward the living room. There he would find a surprise as Gwaine was sitting on the couch wide eyed and excitedly talking to Mordred about all the fun which was going to happen in their time together. This led him to believe that his husband had been fake sleeping when he checked earlier.

 

He watched with a saddened heart as Mordred and Gwaine stared out the window to wave at Merlin’s blue Tucson while it backed out of the driveway. It had been hard to listen to the boy cry for his daddies to not leave. Even with the many repeated words of reassurance from Merlin and Arthur, it pained him to see the young man so tormented.

So Percy had prepared himself for a screaming, panicked, and distressed young man when the SUV was no longer in their vision. However when he went to pickup Mordred to get the boy away from the window to the couch, he got a fingers-in-the-mouth-being-chewed-on little. It seemed Mordred was too emotional drained from earlier to put up a fight.

Grabbing one of the many bags which belonged to Mordred, Percival searched for a teething toy that he had seen the boy use before. Gwaine who appeared out of nowhere came to be helpful by join him in the quest of the strawberry toy. Of course, it would be the young man sitting awkwardly on the couch who opened a green messenger bag to find the object they were looking for.

“Helps with the anxiety?” Asked Gwaine who sat down next to the boy trying to offer a comforting shoulder if need be. “Cause you told me your teeth finally grew in at Morgana’s birthday party.”

Percival watched as the boy’s head move up and down while biting leisurely on the pink strawberry teether. He realized what Arthur had been going on about, how non-verbal Mordred could be when dealing with a stressful situation. For Gwaine would keep asking questions to the young man which resulted in shaking of the head or a nod.

Not a single word would be spoken by the young man during the conversation, just like the first time he had meet Mordred. This caused him to think about the stuffed dragon Stormy which should be in the boy’s bags somewhere. Since a cuddly fuzzy animal might make the boy feel better especially since he knew it always did with Gwaine.

After the second bag came up with no plushy, Percy would find a black stuffed dog in the third with what looked like sleepwear. Showing the animal whose name he knew began with an S to the young man and Gwaine, he got a quick reaction from Mordred with grabby hands and a pleading look. Not wanting to make the boy cry as there had been enough tears spilled already so early in the morning, he handed off the soft toy dog.

“Where’s Stormy?” Questioned Gwaine, while look at him with a confused face as if he hadn’t been searching for that particular item already.

“Papa has him.” Mordred said in almost a whisper. “I hid Stormy into his bag.”

“You wanted your daddies to have something of yours.”Said Gwaine who smiled at him as it seemed Mordred was feeling better.

“Yup.” Said the young man before pointing to the coat the boy had yet to remove. “Daddy gave me his red jacket.”

“What about your Papa?” Percy asked as he decided to join the littles sitting on the couch and making Mordred move closer to Gwaine so the boy was sandwiched in between them. “What did he give you?”

“His blanket.” Said Mordred getting up to grab what was stuffed in the second bag which was a blue fleece throw.

“That’s usually draped over the couch in your house.” Said Gwaine whom feel the soft material as the boy came back to sit with them.

“Papa used it for naps.” Mordred said while covering up with the blanket before yawning.

“That was before you started living with your daddies” Said Percival putting an arm around the young man to give the boy a cuddle buddy. “I see a good amount of pictures of him snoozing alongside you now.”

“Uh-huh” Said the young man who snuggled up to him and yawned again.

“It’s alright if you want to sleep some.” Said Gwaine cozy up to the boy to help create the safe environment he was going for. “Papa and I are tired too”

“Okay” Said Mordred before pulling a phone out from underneath the blanket which he assumed must have been in the red jacket’s pocket. “Listen to music?”

“Sure, Short-stack.” Said Percy taken the offered item from the boy to click on the playlist icon.

Percival watched as the young man gave a sigh of relief as classical music started playing. He even noticed Gwaine starting to drift off to the tune of _The Blue Danube Waltz_ by Johann Strauss II and wonder if it would be a good idea to use this concept with the long haired man before feeling sleepy himself. Hoping he didn’t get a crick in his neck from the angle of his head, Percy allowed his body to relax and drift off. Since he figured there wasn’t going to be much down time with having two highly active littles in his home.

 

Percy was folding laundry in the master bedroom when he heard quickly moving footsteps. Since Gwaine was sitting at the foot of the bed watching cartoons, he realized Mordred had woken up and must be looking for them. It was a surprise to him when a panicked young man passed the room without really checking it.

“We’re in here.” Gwaine shouted as he dropped the shirt in his hands to go after the boy.

Just as Percival made it to the doorway, he felt a body collide into him. Feeling like a fool for leaving Mordred alone, he picked up the sobbing little to comfort. It was something he hadn’t thought about since his husband even in little mode knew he was always somewhere in the house. However he realized Mordred must have felt terrified when finding no one in the living room especially with being in a strange house.

“You were gone.” Mordred babbled into his shoulder.

“I’m so sorry Mordred.” Said Percy while he rubbed the boy’s back and bounce slightly. “We should have stayed with you.”

“Papa says I can be too loud sometimes.” Said Gwaine trying to make Mordred see what their reasoning was for not being there. “He didn’t want me to wake you.”

“Thought you left me.” Mordred said as the young man turned slightly in his hold to look over at Gwaine.

“I would never do that.” Said Gwaine giving him a tilted head look as if saying to put Mordred on the bed. “You’re my best friend.”

Doing as his husband asked, Percy bent down to gently lower the boy onto the bed. He watched at the young man scampered over to Gwaine for a hug. Seeing the scared look in Mordred’s eyes, Percival wonder if this was what the boy was worried about with Arthur and Merlin being hours away.

“You do know that your daddies are come back for you.” Said Percy hoping the boy knew this important piece of information.

“Uh-huh.” Mordred said who suddenly smiled at him while removing the red jacket that the boy was still wearing. “I forgot for a bit but they gave me this.”

“That’s pretty.” His husband said while staring at the gold chain which the young man was wearing.

“Papa and Daddy have necklaces too.” Said the boy as Mordred got off the bed to show him. “It meant they love me and I love them.”

Percival was glad to see the bright light appear in the young man’s eyes while Mordred went on about Arthur and Merlin. He even laughed when the boy started doing impressions of them. Of course, Gwaine jump in to join and it was not shocking to hear the usual banter that was his friends of cabbage head and idiot.

“Uncle Percy?” Mordred asked quietly as he was heading to the door with the idea to make breakfast.

“Yes, Short-stack what can I do for you.” Said Percy as he turned around to face the boy who he could tell was anxious.

“I’m sorry to bug you” Said the young man looking down at the floor. ”But I’m still in jammies and um…wet.”

“That’s alright Mor. Papa doesn’t mind.” Gwaine said before going over to the boy to ruffle the brown locks. “He’s a master at changing diapers and stuff.”

“But I’m not you.” Said Mordred glance up at his husband and shifting nervously.

“Your Papa changes Lance and me when we are at play dates, doesn’t he?” Asked Gwaine giving the boy a look of you know I’m right. “So my papa is just returning the favor so to speak.”

“It’s going to be okay, Mordred.” Percy said moving closer to the scared young man to give a shoulder squeeze.

“But only Papa or Daddy has um…changed me.” Said Mordred as the young man played with the pacifier that was clipped to the pajamas.

“Don't worry Short-Stack.” Said Percy as he headed over to where he kept the supplies for Gwaine. “I’ve done this a billion times.”

“Its cause of me but Papa secretly loves it.” Gwaine said who seemed to be in a helpful mood by grabbing the changing pad for him. “Just be careful, he might try to raspberry you.”

“My daddy does that all the time.” Said Mordred who looked up at them with a smile before reality sunk in. “Um…stuff is in my bag.”

“I will get it, Papa.” Said Gwaine before the long haired man ran out of the room.

Percival could only be grateful for his husband’s assistance as he carefully undressed Mordred. For the boy was so frightened it was good to have someone around to distract the young man. This is what his husband did once returning to the bedroom with the fuzzy dog and the green messenger bag, Gwaine would lie down on the hardwood next to Mordred and use the stuffed animal as puppet.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mordred heard a ping coming from his phone and couldn’t help but smile. For he knew it was his Papa who had found Stormy in the carry-on bag sending him a picture. This one was showing the stuffed dragon seating in an airplane seat ready to take off with a funny caption saying ready for someone else to do all the flying.

He handed the phone over to Gwaine to see and knew that it would be given to Uncle Percy as well. As they were sitting at the dining room table finishing breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes and apple juice. The choice of what to have had popped into his best friend’s head thanks to the nickname that Uncle Percy had given him.

Once he was given back his phone, Mordred checked and saw a message from Daddy. Knowing that his daddies were constantly checking in on him in a way made he felt better about being here. For there had been scary thoughts running ramped inside his mind of them enjoying their time without him so much that they decide to be rid of him for good.

However thanks to his necklace and the stuff of theirs that he had with him, Mordred realized how silly he was being for thinking that way. He figured his daddies care too much about him to do that and it was proven to him by the photos and texts. Plus he had a feeling they missed him just as much as he missed them. For Mordred had an aching heart from not being around his Papa and Daddy. Even things Mordred hadn’t even knew he could miss like the forehead kisses.

Of course, Mordred decided not to dwell on that as it would only make him sad and he had promised to have fun. Since his daddies had kept theirs, it was only right that he ensured that his was fulfilled as well. Therefore he placed his phone in the middle of the table to finish eating and to give Uncle Percy and Gwaine his full attention.

 

Mordred was trying not to giggle as he saw Uncle Percival hiding behind a tree. For the greenery in the backyard of Percy’s and Gwaine’s house did nothing to hide the tall man from plain view. This was why he found the whole thing funny since they were playing hide and seek and the point was not to be seen.

He figured his spot behind the barbecue grill was a smart location. Due to the fact the cover was on which kept his legs from being seen. Plus it was wide enough to shift from one section to another if he felt the person was getting to close. The only problem was not making noise which gave away his location. Like his binky that was currently stuffed in Daddy’s red jacket so he didn’t produce loud sucking sounds.

That had been how Uncle Percy caught him in the last round when he was hiding understood the tower of the swing set. Just thinking of the playground area made him want to give up in order for a chance to go down the slide. Since Gwaine was taking far too long at counting down to zero in his opinion and he was kind of bored of the game as this was the seventh round.

Peeking over to see how much longer he had to wait until the looking for began, Mordred noticed that Gwaine must been searching already. As his best friend was no longer at the designated spot for the person who was the seeker. This caused him to sense that someone was behind him. Turning around slowly, Mordred would find Gwaine standing beside him.

“I see you!” Said the long haired man who moved closer to him in order to tag him found.

“Gotta catch me.” Said Mordred as he took off running to the swing set which was the safe zone.

Seeing Uncle Percy already sitting on one of the two swings, Mordred wondered how he hadn’t observe that happen. The notion of it occurring when he had been distracted by his thoughts of the green slide came to mind. For this one was higher than the one at the park and had a wave pattern instead of being straight. So it was most likely the case because he really wanted to try the slide out since their arrival in the backyard earlier.

Therefore Mordred didn’t even give a pouty face when he felt the tap on the shoulder by his best friend. Instead he gave Gwaine a thump up, a good job smile, and pointed to the slide in hopes that the long haired man would get his idea. Since he had gotten to pick this activity as the guest and didn’t want to seem rude by choosing another without Gwaine having a turn.

Luck was on his side as it appeared Gwaine had already be thinking about the swing set and told him so. The long haired man even challenged him to a race to the stair to see who could reach the top of the tower first. Once his best friend had won that one, it became who could go the most times down before Uncle Percy made them go in for lunch. Which thrilled him as the slide was one of his favorite things to do at the park beside the monkey bar of course.

 

The movie was playing on the TV but Mordred wouldn’t have been able to tell anyone what was going on. No, he was far too busy inside his own head to be watching the screen. Since it was getting closer and closer to his bed time and Mordred was started to really miss his daddies.

He had been fine cuddling with Uncle Percy after dinner to watch the Fox and the Hound. However about fifteen minutes into the movie, it just seemed incomplete somehow. For example, the hands that were rubbing his back were not stained with ink or markers like Papa’s would be around this time from a long day of designing. Nor could he smell Daddy’s cologne which was usually embedded in the blond haired man’s shirt.

So it wasn’t his fault when he stared of in space to imagine what his daddies were doing at the moment before pretending he was at home with them. It was only his phone going off that drew him back into the harsh reality. He grabbed his phone from the side table after a nod of approval from Uncle Percy and was thankful for sitting on the end for once. Since Uncle Percy was keeping Gwaine and him apart so they wouldn’t throw popcorn at each other as they had in the beginning.

He found a picture of Stormy at the check in desk of the Hotel that his daddies were staying at and it drove the truth into him. There would be no going home tonight nor tomorrow, he could fantasise all he wanted but it wasn’t going to do him any good. For it only made everything harder as he tried not to cry about the fact of being without them.

Since in the almost six months of being with his daddies, Mordred had never been without at least one of them around this time of night and it scared him. For what if Uncle Percy didn’t know that he liked bubble baths came to mind. In addition, he knew Gwaine didn’t do milk from the many naps they had taken together so he had no idea how sleep was going to happen tonight. All he could do was try to block out the whole notion of later and what might happen in order to just deal with the present.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Gwaine felt the change in his best friend instantly as the kid refused to have any more of the popcorn that they were sharing. Knowing how much Mordred liked the buttery treat, Gwaine figured that maybe his movie idea which he had suggested during dinner might not have been the best option. For it seemed to give the kid too much thinking time and was causing Mordred to get emotional about Arthur and Merlin being away.

Figuring he had to do something to stop the boy before the tears fell; Gwaine re-positioned himself to a better sitting arrangement for his mission. For what he was about to do would insure that bath time came sooner than later. Especially with the movie being less than half way done and the fact he knew what Percival reaction was going to be.

“Uh-oh” Said Gwaine as sweetly as he could to muster to make it seem like his crime was innocent. “I went wee-wee.”

“Are you serious Gwaine?” Asked Papa given him a disappointing look.

“Yup, see no more stars.” Said Gwaine getting up reveal the used pull-up before giving the tall man a pout. “I’m sorry Papa; I got distracted by the movie.”

“You need to be more aware, Peanut.” Papa said who froze the movie and stood up in order to take him to the bathroom. “Remember the calendar requires 15 stars.”

Gwaine looked behind him as he was walking into the hallway with Papa and saw that his plan was working. Since Mordred was trailing behind like a little duckling which was what the kid had been doing for the majority of the day. He even moved slower to allow the boy to catch up to him so that they would enter the master bathroom at the same moment.

“15 stars?” Asked Mordred looking at them both confused.

“I need that many a month to stay in pull-ups.” Gwaine said smiling when he saw his papa going to the tub mostly likely to start the water. “If I don’t make it then I have to wear diapers.”

“Oh.” Said the young man turning to him who he knew was thinking of something. “Same for me?”

“I think so cause you get reward every seven stars too.” Said Gwaine heading over toward the closet in the room where his bath toys were kept. “But you might need to ask.”

“Okay.” Said Mordred as the boy seemed to understand whom he was referring to.

Gwaine could only smirk to himself as he reached for the bubble bath solution. For he had planted the seed into the young man’s mind on how to get what the boy wanted without having to ask. Since he knew how his mind worked and how much easier it was to deal with such things if the caretaker was the one who made the ultimate decision or it was forced upon because of an unbreakable rule.

 

Gwaine pushed his tug boat though the soapy slight warm water, trying to do as he was told and play. However the sniffing coming from his best friend, kept him from enjoying this so-called alone time in the tub. For Papa had taken Mordred out a few minutes ago in order to get the younger man dressed for bed. Which he understood as the kid was yawning and looked ready to drift off to sleep land.

He knew the tears weren’t from being taken away from their venture on the high seas. For it had been good entertainment having someone else to join in his adventure and splashing about. Especially when the kid hit the water too hard with a toy duck which accidentally gotten Papa wet.

No, it was the gold chain that he kept hearing the boy mumbling about wanting to his Papa and the cause of the sobbing. Since the tall man had been worried about losing the precious item earlier and had removed it before his best friend entered the water. Gwaine figured the desired object was sitting most likely on top of his dresser which was out of reach for Mordred to grab.

This was when he realized that the young man had reached the zone that he had been trying to avoid. As a little himself, Gwaine recognized what was truly going on with the young man. He had been hoping to be such a distraction of fun that the kid never got there. For even he missed Papa terribly when the tall man had to be called away on business and bedtime was always the hardest part of it all.

Not being able to deal with the hurt in the boy’s voice any longer, Gwaine stood up. He knew what needed to be done to make things right again. That meant he couldn’t be goofing around any longer and needed to take action so Mordred could go to sleep tonight with a smile.

“Cheeseburger Paradise.” Shouted Gwaine as he stepped out of the bath and grabbed a clean, dry towel that had been hanging on a rack.

Quickly drying himself off, Gwaine entered the master bedroom where his husband and Mordred were at. Percival looked at him for a moment when he entered the bedroom before returning to the task at hand which was zipping up Mordred’s pajamas. He could tell the young man was confused as to what was going on while he dressed quickly into an old t-shirt, pull-up for safety, and worn sweatpants.

However Gwaine couldn’t stick around to explain and hoped his husband would tell the boy about his safe word. For he needed to call the kid’s dads to see if a face time could be arranged while heating up milk. Which meant finding the bottle warmer that had been used when he was in baby little mode that could be anywhere in the kitchen. So he walked quickly to that room to insure his mission didn’t become a failure since Mordred may fall asleep before everything was ready.

 

Gwaine was quite pleased with himself as he brought his tablet toward the guest room. He had been able to get Merlin and Arthur to agree for a chat in a couple of minutes. Plus luck had been on his side for the machine he had needed, had been sitting on the kitchen counter almost pleading him to be used. The only snag in the plan had been the chocolate syrup which Percy and he didn’t have. So Gwaine had quickly improvised by using strawberry instead.

It came as no surprise to him when he entered the room to find his husband sitting up on the bed with Mordred. He knew Percival would be trying to calm the young man down so the kid might doze off. Which Gwaine figured out how that option was going to do nothing but cause Mordred to cry until dreamland finally took over. Therefore Gwaine handed over the two objects in his hands to Percy so he could climb into bed with his best friend.

Once he had his back to the head board, Gwaine requested his tablet that had started to ring. It was amazing to see Mordred’s eyes beam when Merlin and Arthur came up on the screen. If only Gwaine had thought about grabbing his phone to take a picture as it would have been amazing to show the boy’s daddies later, of Mordred waving at the tablet.

 

He had tried his best not to interfere with the conversation and let the grownups talk about the day. However it was just too easy to figure out what the boy really needed. Like if one of the two chatting buffoons on the screen could read them a story. Since he noticed Mordred’s eyes kept drooping close before the boy jolted awake in a way of fighting off the pull of sleep.

Plus the bottle of milk wasn’t going to last much longer and without that helping the boy drift to dreamland; it would be like all his efforts were for nothing. So Gwaine handed over his tablet to Percy in order for himself to get into a more laid down position. This he realized might have aided the situation as the young man followed his lead and snuggled up to him like a vine.

While listening to Merlin reading or more like reciting a story which most likely was told every night, Gwaine yawned. He could feel the pull of sleep hitting him as it had been an invigorating day. There might have been some sad moments but overall in his mind it was a wonderful time spent with his best friend. All he hoped was that Mordred would feel the same way when looking back on their adventures two days spent together.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Merlin sighed heavily as he waited for Arthur to return to their hotel room. His husband had talked about a surprise for him all afternoon after their successful meeting which was behind schedule due to their face time with Mordred. However he hadn’t minded the delay as it gave him time to talking to his little elf about how things were going as well as getting a chance to watch the young man sleep for a few minutes thanks to Percival.

Of course, thinking of the boy made Merlin realized something. This caused him to grab his phone sitting on the night stand next to the stuffed dragon. He quickly sent a message to Percival explaining how Mordred might be in red card mood in the morning. Since the boy had fallen asleep in a regular bed instead of a crib. This was vital information for his friend to know as breakfast might be made and Mordred still hadn’t mastered toast yet.

He was going to add what to do with the burn pieces if it did happen when his phone was swiped. Looking up from his sitting position on the bed, Merlin would find his husband shoving the chirping object into his leather messenger bag. Knowing better than to agitate the blond haired man by retrieving it, Merlin flopped onto the bed to ignore instead.

“I thought I gave you instructions to not pick up your phone.” Arthur said in an annoyed voice with a glare of the eyes before walking away from him.

“Do I ever do as you ask?” Question Merlin who turned from staring at the ceiling to see where his husband was going.

“No but that’s not the point, darling.” Said his husband who had picked something up which he couldn’t see from his angle. “Everything is fine. Percy is doing a great job and we should leave him alone.”

“You know I can’t just stop thinking about our little, you prat.” Said Merlin getting up to see what Arthur had gotten during the time away from their hotel room. “What if he’s displeased with us after this?”

“Don’t be such an idiot. Mordred did say 'I love you' to us before falling asleep” Said Arthur who turned with unknown object in hand which turned out to be a picnic basket. “Besides, I have something to take your mind off those worries.”

Merlin smiled at his husband’s wonderful notion for maybe it would be good to do something together in a romantic way. Plus this was a throwback to their first date which it seemed Arthur had remembered quite fondly if it was being repeated. Therefore he decided to do as he was told for a change and follow Arthur out of the room to wherever the blond haired man had in mind.

 

Merlin would have to tell his husband that he enjoyed this outing later. For it was relaxing and peaceful sitting on the blanket on the beach. Especially looking over the water at the boats came into shore as the sun slowly set over the horizon.

“Next summer we need to plan a trip to the ocean for Mordred.” Said Arthur turning toward him and who seemed to be watching the father and son duo farther away sculpting something in the sand. "I think he might like the salt water.”

“I thought this was us time.” Merlin said smirking at his husband as he took a sip of his ice tea that had been provided with the picnic of cold cuts and fruit. “I put it on the list to buy Mordred a bucket and pail to make castles with.”

“Sorry, you were right about thinking about him.” Said his husband while look apologetic for earlier. “The ideas just keep popping into my head.”

“Did a Pendragon just apologize?” Said Merlin who gave a fake shocked expression and gasp. “I’m honored to have the privilege to be on the other side of it.”

“Don’t be so dramatic.” Said Arthur as his husband hit him with a plastic spoon. “It’s not like I haven’t done it before.”

“Hey, that hurt you dollop head.” Said Merlin examining his arm while wondering how sharp that flying object was. “I think I’m bleeding.”

“Oh don’t be such a girl, Merlin.” His husband said who moved closer to him in order to have a look as well. “I’ll kiss it better if you want.”

“I thinking my lips hurt too.” Said Merlin after watching Arthur actually make good on him words and kiss his arm. “Can you work your magic on those as well?”

“That’s because you talk too much.” Said Arthur with a smile before doing as asked.

Merlin could only laugh at their game of doctor and patient which they decide to take to their hotel room as things were getting too heavy for witnesses. There they could have some fun under the sheets which didn’t happen as often as they liked at home with work, a little to take care of, and life in general. The only thing that Merlin made sure happened before it all began was that Stormy took a nap in a drawer far away from the action in the bedroom.

 

October 15th

Arthur placed the stuffed dragon of Mordred’s down on the front step of Gwaine’s and Percival home. He waited for Merlin to take the photo before picking it up and moving away from the door. Looking over Merlin’s shoulder to see what his husband was texting, he nodded in approval of the “Guess where I am” statement.

They waited patiently for the message to be notified as read and he hoped everyone was awake already. Since maybe Merlin and he had been too excited to come see their little boy to realize how early it was. For Arthur had justly missed his little knight and knew his husband felt the same way. In addition, they had stopped at a souvenirs shop next to their hotel and had gifts to hand out.

Arthur almost walked toward the door to ring the bell when he heard movement inside of the house. He smiled over at his husband who showed him a text from Mordred in all caps of “here.” as he heard the door being opened most likely by Percival. Of course, the next thing he saw was the blue sky as Mordred had barreled straight into him which resulted in a knock to the ground.

He laughed as the boy said a quick hello while snagging Stormy from him before getting up to greet Merlin. Sitting up from his position, Arthur watched as the young man ran over to his husband. Which resulted in him shaking his head at Merlin pretending the force was just as great to fall gracefully to the ground with Mordred attached.

Thankfully for him, Percival had walked over to help him up. Only for Gwaine to jump upon him to explain how awesome the two days had been. He even listened as Mordred told Merlin all about a game of hide and seek as well as their exploration in making of waffles for Percy which had ended in a bit of a mess. Maybe it had been a good thing that they had some time apart. For it seemed to make this moment with them back together feel sweeter.


	21. Wishing you a spooky Halloween

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Halloween chapter! Finally!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Everyone,
> 
> I hope you are all doing well. Thank you for all the kudos, comments, and bookmarks.Please let me know if I'm missing any tags,thanks. Enjoy this chapter!!
> 
>  
> 
> This chapter has been beta by the wonderful miss littlewebby. So thank her as well for finding all my grammar and spelling mistakes to make this chapter awesome.

October 31st

Merlin hummed along to a song as he worked on goodie bags for the trick-or-treaters that would be arriving later today. He grabbed his phone to up the volume as the _Monster Mash_ started to play. His foot tapped along to the beat of the music and Merlin felt himself smile as he knew today was going to be magical.

The best news so far had been the phone call from Arthur about his husband being able to get out of the office earlier. Therefore his little elf would have plenty of time for a grand adventure going from one house to another collecting candy. Which he had been worried about as it was getting darker earlier at night and work had been picking up steam the past few weeks.

Thinking of Mordred running around in the adorable outfit that was upstairs waiting to be put on made Merlin decide to go check on the young man. While walking toward the computer room, he wondered if he could convince the boy into making popcorn balls later after nap time. Since he figured he needed to get the boy into the holiday spirit somehow.

For at the moment, his little elf was hunched at the computer on the dark wooden desk typing away. An English paper due by midnight tonight had driven the young man into red card mood in order to meet the deadline. This explained to him why Mordred was wearing a sweatshirt with the hood up and from what he could figure out, headphones playing music in the ears as the boy hadn’t acknowledge him entering the room.

He knew it wasn’t Mordred’s way of asking to be left alone but a need to stay focused instead. Since the boy tended to stayed in green mood more often than not in the past couple of weeks and seemed to be having trouble going back and forth between the different frames of mind. Therefore anything could trigger the slip down to green at the moment which was why he had stayed away for so long trying to stay busy doing other things.

An empty bowl and tumbler cup pushed off to the side of the desk showed him that Mordred at least had breakfast and wasn’t skipping all the basic needs. However it was getting quite close to a scheduled trip to the potty and the day could go up in flames if he didn’t interfere. Especially since Merlin could see a leg moving underneath the desk which supported his theory.

“Mordred?” Merlin asked carefully as he didn’t want to fright the young man.

“I’m just proofreading.” Said Mordred to him but kept looking at the computer screen. “Then I’ll be done.”

“Why don’t you print it out?” Questioned Merlin, remembering how that often helped him in the past with writing assignments. “While the computer is doing that, you can take a break.”

“If I walk away from this, I’m most likely not coming back.” Said Mordred who he could tell from his position was scanning the words. “Just give me fifteen more minutes.”

“Your bladder might not last that long.” Said Merlin trying to get the young man to understand why he was bugging. “If you're worried about your paper being understandable send it to Arthur and me. We can look it over and even send it if need be.”

“But isn’t that considered cheating?” Mordred asked while breaking contact with the computer to look over at him.

“No, we are just going to read your work.” Said Merlin as he took the mouse from the boy to save the document and sent it to the correct e-mails. “It’s not like we actually wrote the paper for you or anything major like that.”

“Oh.” Said the boy who moved the chair Mordred was sitting in away from the desk. “Bathroom is unlocked?”

“Should be but let me know if it’s not.” Said Merlin moving over to his own computer chair to check his e-mails and give the young man some privacy.

Merlin shook his head, hoping Mordred realized asking for help with schoolwork was okay. He knew the young man was determined to prove to Arthur and him that these courses were being taken seriously. Which his husband and he could tell based on the grades they could see via the web-site access that they had. However, Merlin didn’t want the boy to think there weren’t resources to be used if things got to be too difficult, after all he had gone to a help-center himself in college for math.

 

Checking his phone after sending a few e-mails, Merlin realized Mordred had been gone quite some time. He figured the boy had gotten distracted or perhaps found the candy which he had left unattended. Therefore he left the room in search of Mordred and prayed there wasn’t a hyped up little on sugar in the kitchen.

Merlin would not find his little elf in the living room, kitchen or dining room. He speculated if something had gone wrong with Mordred’s trek to the bathroom and walked in that direction. He reached his destination to find the door closed but luckily for him unlocked. Deciding to knock before rushing in, Merlin heard a soft 'come in' before opening the door.

“What’s wrong?” Asked Merlin as he stepped in the room to find Mordred huddled in the bathtub fully clothed.

“I didn’t make it in time.” Said a red eyed Mordred who still had tears running down the boy’s face.

“Well that’s alright.” Merlin said while closing the door before going to grab the changing supplies and a new pull-up. “These things happen.”

“But I’m not little.” Said the young man as Mordred stood up. “It’s shouldn’t have.”

“You got distracted by your paper, just like when there a cartoon show on that you like.” Merlin said giving the boy a look of compassion. “It’s no big deal. I’m sure if you texted Gwaine, he has plenty of stories to tell you of this occurring to him.”

“So it's not just me.” Said Mordred who he could tell seemed not as gloomy at the information. “But aren’t you mad about this?”

“Nope, just because you're in adult mood doesn’t mean I stop caring.” Said Merlin pausing from what he was doing to look the boy in the eyes. “Besides, I said I’d change you no matter what.”

“But what if I start wearing diapers every day?” The young man asked while giving him a worried look.

“If that comes to be, I will just have to stock up on more rash cream and diapers.” Said Merlin offered his hand to assist the boy climb out of the tub. “Since nothing you do could cause me to stop being your caretaker and that includes mounts of dirty diapers."

“Really?” Asked Mordred who took his hand and walked out of the tub onto the tiled floor.

“Yes, Sweetheart.” Said Merlin as he helped the young man sit down onto the towel and changing pad. “I love you and that's never going to diminish.”

“Love you too.” Mordred said while reaching for the binky that the boy knew he had stuffed in his pocket for emergencies.“Gingersnaps.”

Merlin could only smile at the young man for encouragement while watching the switch occur. Only once he was sure this was a yellowish going to green Mordred in front of him did he undo the buttons on the ripped jeans that the boy had been wearing. Knowing that there had been a reason for red card Mordred staying around, Merlin figured Arthur would need to know about the growing desire of diapers by their little one. Since it seemed his elf was getting comfortable with the idea and with this conversation, it might be even more of an option coming down the road sooner than they had anticipated.

 

Merlin heard the door bell going off as he entered the living room to play with Mordred. He looked at the time on his watch and realized it was much later in the day than he had thought. Therefore he checked out the window before opening the door to find Arthur standing there with a grin on the blond haired man’s face.

“Trick or Treat.” His husband proclaimed while using the red lunch bag in the same manner as the pumpkin bucket they had gotten Mordred to retrieve candy from.

“Do you think we should give this person a goodie bag, Honey?” Asked Merlin to Mordred who he knew was behind him.

“Uh-uh” Said Mordred as he saw the boy moving past him to give Arthur a hug. “Not in costume.”

“Feels like a disguise some days.” Said Arthur to him while entering the house with an attached young man and giving him a peck on the cheek.

“See many trick-or-treaters out there?”Merlin asked wondering if he should get their little one ready to go out.

“A hand full” Said his husband who was tickling Mordred and receiving giggles. “I know Percy should be over with Gwaine soon.”

“Going out with friends?!” Mordred said while the young man gave them a big smile about the newly told information.

“Yes, but we need to get you dressed first.”Said Arthur as the blond haired man started walking toward the stairs in an effort to get Mordred to follow.

“Okay.” Said Mordred as Merlin watched the boy trail after his husband.

He had hoped to tag along to make sure Arthur didn’t mess up with the costumes but saw people walking toward the door that he had yet to close. Grabbing the treat bags to hand out, Merlin waited for the dressed up littles and kids to reach him. He smiled at each one of them feeling a sense of excitement at knowing this would soon be his own little's experience.

 

“Papa” He heard Mordred say after he had finished handing out candy and closed the door.

“Yes, Honey?” Asked Merlin as he turned to see the young man dressed now in stretchy waist-band black jeans and a long silver grey knitted sweater that almost mimicked chain mail.

“Daddy says I have boots.” Mordred said while wearing a headband with elf ears and the prized crown from Morgana’s party.

“Remember we got them last Saturday” Said Merlin puzzled as to what happened to the rest of the costume. “Where is your cape?”

“Oh, yea.” Said the young man who seemed to have found the questioned items next to the usually Velcro shoes before looking up at him. “It’s too nice to wear.”

“But Auntie Gwen made that special for you.” Merlin said who could see the fear of a ruined object in the boy’s eyes. “Plus it can be washed and repaired if need be, Papa designed it so.”

He noticed Mordred relax at his statement and gave the boy a reassuring hug. He had figured the young man might be concerned about the beautiful red cape with the dragon on the back so Gwen and he had picked an easy to work with fabric. In addition, Merlin had bought plenty of material in case anything happened and a replacement had to be made.

Just as he was about to guide the young man back up the stairs, Merlin saw Arthur dressed similar to Mordred coming their way. Merlin nodded to his husband in a way of understanding that Mordred had gotten away from Arthur who most likely had been getting into costume when the boy vanished. Smiling at Arthur, Merlin took a red cape from his husband to place upon Mordred as well as the belt with a holder for the boy’s plastic sword to allow the blond haired man to finish getting ready. He hoped he could get a picture of his two knights in armor and dragon capes before any parts of the outfits became lost or removed.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mordred watched as Gwaine stood next to him confidently as Morgana pushed the door bell. He knew what to say but wasn’t sure it was going to come out of his mouth when the door finally did open. For this was the first house on their route and while the others had done this whole trick or treating before, he hadn’t. Therefore it made him quite unsure on how to feel about asking strangers for candy.

What if they asked him to do a trick was his main concern as he didn’t think he had a special ability to perform. Plus Mordred hadn’t been told that was a requirement to participate in this event for the evening until Gwaine had brought it up a few seconds ago as they were walking to the door. If only he had time to prepare he thought, as his mind raced with what he possibly could do to fulfill the first aspect of trick or treat.

So Mordred waited nervously as the door opened and a kind looking lady dressed as a fairy appeared. He heard both the other shout “trick or treat” but just smiled politely at the glittery person hoping that it would convince her to go with the latter. Luck seemed to be on his side when the fairy gave each of them a piece of candy. He even bowed at her after the treat had been deposited into his pumpkin bucket.

“Daddy!” He shrieked as he ran to Arthur with his treasure once the door had been closed. “Got candy!”

“I see that, Love.” His daddy said smiling at him while they headed to the next house. “That’s how this works.”

“Me didn’t have to do a trick.” Said Mordred who let Uncle Percy and Uncle Leon see his treat since they had stopped moving.

“Sorry Uncle Art, I told him about that.” Said Gwaine before running up the driveway to ring the next doorbell before Morgana got there.

“Don’t worry about having to do a trick, Momo.” said Morgana coming up next to him as they followed the long haired man waiting at the door step. “I’ll just turn them into newts with my wand.”

Mordred looked over at Morgana who he thought would have been in a princess costume. Since the rest of the group going trick-or-treating were dressed like Knights of the Round Table with his daddy being the king. However she had decided to be an evil witch by wearing a black dress, shoes and had a dark crown on her head.

“That’s not nice.” Mordred said while Morgana and he made it to the welcome mat.

“It would only last until we grab the candy.” Said Morgana while twirling the wand and smirking at him.

“Don’t be silly, if you did that Mor will want to kiss them all better.” Said Gwaine as the knight rang the door bell. “We’ll just have to juggle our candies instead.”

Mordred nodded as the door opened revealing another dressed up stranger with a bowl full of wrapped treats. This time he joined the others with the chant and secretly hoped the mad scientist asked them for a trick. Since he kind of wanted to see if Gwaine could actually do what his best friend said with just the one bar of candy in the knight’s basket.

 

Mordred looked at all the treats in his pumpkin bucket and wondered if they were done. He had gotten plenty of candies but had a desire to go to more houses. It was fun running to the next one with Gwaine and Morgana. They had decided to take turns ring the bell since there had been heated words earlier and it was his favorite part by far. Especially when the tone was a song he knew or he found funny. Like the one that talked to tell the person in the house that someone was at the door.

“Something the matter short-stack?” asked Uncle Percy who seemed to be eyeing his candies.

“Full” Said Mordred showing the tall man what he meant by trying to pull out a treat but couldn’t without having another one fall out.

“Uncle Art should have gotten you a bigger bucket.” Said Gwaine as his best friend was walking along side them. “He didn’t take your cuteness into factor; I swear you’ve gotten two pieces vs. my one.”

Mordred checked out Gwaine’s bucket and noticed his container was the same size as Gwaine. However his did have more treats which caused him to grab a hand full from his bucket to add to his best friend’s. Thinking he had done well, Mordred smiled at Gwaine only to get a frown in return.

“I didn’t ask you to do that.” Said Gwaine trying to place the candy back into his bucket but wasn’t able to with the fact that he had covered it with his hand.

“Hey, what’s the hold up?” He heard his daddy which caused Mordred to realize Gwaine and he had stopped moving and the grownups with Morgana were a few seconds away.

“Mor won’t take back his candy.” Exclaimed Gwaine to the rest of the group as everyone was heading back toward them.

“Had too much.” Mordred said trying to keep the tears at bay since he was upset about his friend not liking his gesture. “Want to keep trick-or-treating.”

“It’s going to be okay Love.” Said Arthur as his daddy gave him a hug and rubbed his back. “Don’t cry, there's an easy fix.”

“Really?” Asked Mordred who looked up at the blond haired man while rubbing at his eyes.

“Yep, all the candy is going into a big pillow case to be divided equally once we get back home.” Daddy said pointing to the wagon that Uncle Leon had been pulling.

“Oh.” Said Mordred and Gwaine at the same time which made him giggle.

He held Daddy’s hand as his container was empty into a blue pillow case and watched as the others were as well. It didn’t seem like they had a lot but Mordred just shrugged at it. For him it wasn’t about the candy or how much they collected but the fun he was having being an elf knight prince. Plus it was nice to hang out with the others and have an adventure of sorts.

 

Mordred had just about enough with walking and almost decided he should climb into the wagon with Morgana, when it was announced that they were at the last stop of the night. He silently cheered on the inside as it was getting much too dark for his liking even if his pumpkin bucket glowed. In addition, Mordred didn’t think he could utter the same phrase that he had been saying all night after this one.

He was a bit confused when Gwaine allowed him to ring the bell since he had his turn already, two houses earlier. Of course, Mordred wasn’t going to argue about it as this one had a classical music tone and caused him to smile. It sounded similar to the door bell at home which he hoped that they would be heading to after this.

“Who dare disturbs Dragoon the great!” He heard a booming voice of the man who opened the door which made him jump as it took him by surprise.

He stared at the white facial haired man wearing a blue robe who was holding a long cane. Mordred figured the gentleman had to be a warlock as the costume reminded him of the movie _The Sword and the Stone_. Looking into the man’s eyes, Mordred came to realize it was Papa behind the fake beard as well as the long white hair which must be a wig.

“Trick or Treat!” Mordred shouted as he beamed up at his papa who winked back at him.

The others followed his lead after figuring out that the man meant no harm, just a playful stunt. He was kind of surprised the rest of the group hadn’t known it was Papa or maybe they were in on it. Perhaps everyone had been waiting for him to notice it before saying anything, after all Daddy had distracted him with talk about dinner on the way to the house. Now he understood why the grownups were behind Gwaine, Morgana, and him instead of waiting at the end of the driveway.

“Is it really the day of All Hallows Eve’s already?” Asked Merlin who seemed confused before showing them three goodie bags. “You are in luck that I have treats on hand but you must come in to receive them. “

“How do we get in?” Questioned Gwaine glancing at him with a smirk before turning back to look at Merlin.

This made him realize how everyone knew about what Papa was going to dress up as for Halloween. For Merlin hadn’t been in costume when the group ventured out earlier. Of course, he should have known that his papa was going to be a warlock as it matched their story but not to this extreme.

“Each of you must answer my question.” Papa said while hitting the concrete walkway with the handmade cane as if making it law for them to enter the house. “Who wants to go first?”

“As the lady in the group, it should be me.” Said Morgana who seemed a bit annoyed with this game they were playing. “Plus I’m not wearing baby pants like these two and need to use the bathroom.”

“Okay Morgana, what is your favorite candy?” Said Merlin as the warlock showed her the bags to pick from.

“You know that already.” Morgana said snatching one of the bags and placing it in her bucket. “This is stupid.”

“Just go along with this for your Momo” Said Gwaine grabbing her arm as she tried to walk to the door.

“Fine, its milkyway” She said quickly towards them before almost pushing his papa out of the way to get in the house.

“I love me some Twix” Said Gwaine taking another one of the bags and waiting for Merlin to grant access to get inside.

“What about you, Love.” Daddy said who had been standing behind him. “Do you have a favorite?”

Mordred turned his head to gaze at Arthur with a confused look on his face. He had no idea what treat he preferred over the rest. There weren’t many that he had gotten the chance to try even when Daddy allowed him to pick one for being good at a store that had candy. For he always seemed to pick M&M’s as they were the first sweets that had been introduced to him by his daddies and maybe those were his favorite. He smiled at Daddy and then towards his Papa as he saw the familiar packaging inside the last treat bag.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Arthur sighed as he sat down on the couch with Leon and Percy following, it had been exhausting keeping with the three rambunctious littles, for most of the afternoon turn evening. Luckily it seemed all the walking from one house to another had calmed the trick-or-treaters. Since everyone was getting along and playing quietly before dinner which was extremely uncommon with Gwaine and Morgana.

Then a notion came to him as he realized how many people were in the house. There were the three on the couch trying to deal with their sore feet, three others sitting on the carpet floor, and Merlin busy working in the kitchen. Arthur counted seven people which meant they didn’t have enough chairs at the dining room table.

He got up to discuss with Merlin the idea that his brain had just hatched. For the table only seated six and there was an option he figured would solve the problem nicely. The dark wooden high chair in the corner of the room, the one Percy and Gwaine had completed for his husband and him back in February.

Of course, his little knight had yet to sit in the special home-made item but tonight might be the perfect situation for the young man to begin to. Since it could show Mordred there was nothing to fear about the chair. Especially with his knowledge of knowing the boy always gave a worried look at the particular object whenever Merlin or he decided to have a meal in the dining room instead of the kitchen.

“So I have a grand scheme.” Arthur said as he walked into the kitchen towards his husband. “And it has to do with our little one.”

“Does it have to do with the high chair?” Asked Merlin turning toward him while still working on whatever was on the stove. “I already thought of that.”

“Well if you agree, I will set it up” Said Arthur as he opened a cabinet to grab plates. “I’ll even set the table.”

“It’s not going to work.” Merlin said while his husband moved toward him with a stirrer in hand. “Plus the arrangements for the tableware are all done.”

“Why is that?” questioned Arthur who replaced the tableware that he had removed. “I’m sure he not going to like it but Mordred will accept our decision.”

“He’d be upset and most likely cry.” Said Merlin grabbing an oven mitt and walked back to the stove. “Therefore someone will come in and save the day.”

“Gwaine will offer to switch spots” Said Arthur feeling foolish for not realizing that scenario sooner.

“Correct.” Merlin said who opened the oven to remove a tray of what looked to him like macaroni and cheese. “That is why I put one of chairs from here in the dining room”

“I was just hoping to see him in it at least once” Said Arthur as he walked to another cabinet for a cup. “You work so hard on making the dragon design for the fabric on the cushion.

“I know dear” Said Merlin placing the tray on a glass cutting board. “Just wait a bit longer and he’ll be in the high chair annoying you for every meal before you know it.”

“Are you sure about that?” Arthur asked as he stopped his trek to the fridge for a drink.

“I am very serious.” Said Merlin who he could see was positive while stirring the content in a pot on the stove. “You have seen the calendar upstairs lately.”

“Yes, it’s got about 20 or so stars.” Said Arthur confused on where his husband was going with the conversation while opening the refrigerator door.

“17 and I bet you that there will be only 14 or less come next month.” Said Merlin pointing to him with a wooden spoon with what look liked gravy. “Don’t you remember the conversation we had with Mordred after the sleepover with Gwaine?”

“I do. It was about how many stars he needed a month.” Arthur said searching though the containers of juices for the ice tea. “He has to have 15 and if there are few than it’s diaper time.”

“Exactly and with Mordred’s regressing head-space the high chair might become wanted by him.” Said Merlin who he knew was smirking at his back and the cape he was still wearing.

Arthur realized his husband was right and decided not to say anything for he didn’t want the dark haired man to get a huge head. His little knight did seem to be getting closer to the lower end of the toddler little group and might even dip into the baby little level. Of course, Arthur knew it didn’t matter what kind of little Mordred was, just that the boy was happy. Since Merlin and he loved the young man dearly and that was never going to change.

 

Arthur stared at the candy lay out on the dining room table in awe. He figured there would be more than the usually amount but about one-third not double. It seemed Mordred’s adorable elf ears and cuteness factor had a way with the treat givers.

He watched the procedure of splitting the goods with each little get a turn to grab four at a time. Luckily for Mordred, the rule of the youngest going first applied. In addition, it looked like the boy didn’t have a problem choosing what to take as the young man took four pack of M&M’s quickly allowing the next little to take their turn.

It was after Mordred’s third grab of candy that Arthur noticed only plain chocolate coated candy packages were inside the bowl staying at their house. Apparently the young man was taking the one treat that Merlin and he had given his little knight. This explained to him why Mordred wasn’t having trouble with the decision to pick especially with all the different variety of candy on the table.

“Buddy, you got to take something beside M&M’s” Said Arthur taking the boy’s hand before another set of treat could be added to the already eight. “Isn’t there anything else you like?”

“Me like these.” Mordred said giving him and his husband a worried look and he knew it was over having to choose another kind of treat.

"We know sweetheart" Said his husband smiling at Mordred in a reassuring way. "But isn't there something that you would like to try."

"Maybe" said the boy shrugging at them and glancing at the treats nearby. "What if I don't like it?"

"Do you know that your Daddy love all kinds of candies?" Said Uncle Leon who Arthur was grateful for the help as the other littles seemed restless at the hold up.

"No" Said Mordred who looked up to the curly haired man curiously.

"Well, he is and takes the good ones too. So you should hide them, Momo" Said Morgana who grabbed a few pieces and handed them over to the young man. "These are my favorite and you might like them too."

"And on your next turn; I give you the ones I really like, Mor" Said Gwaine who wanted to assist as well.

Arthur noticed Mordred nodded while placing candy into the bowl. He could see the boy checking out the different varieties as well as being less tense as if knowing there weren't going to be a bad choice to make. He even decided to give the boy a hint toward a type that in his opinion was the best out of the rest. Just so if Mordred didn't get a chance to try it and got sick of eating treats, the candies would be there for the taking.

 

Arthur waved from the opened front door as Percy's truck drove away. He felt glad to having his house back to just the three members who lived there as he closed the door behind him and turned off the outside lights. For while it had been great to have friends over, it was nice to go back to the quiet and serenity of his home.

He turned on the TV to find something to watch in the living room while he waited for Merlin and Mordred to come down. The duo had gone upstairs for his husband to get his little knight out of costume and in to pajamas. Which might be difficult as Mordred seemed to love the outfit and he was sure would want to wear it frequently.

Arthur felt annoyed when trying to pick a channel after flipping through movies he knew were too scary to be seen by Mordred. In addition, shows that had Halloween special with too much gore had to be axed. There appeared to be nothing on that would be okay for a little to watch until he landed a channel playing music videos.

A familiar clay animation to him came on the screen just as he heard footsteps coming down the stair. It was as if the music was calling his husband and Mordred since he saw them quickly entered the room upon the audio reaching their ears. He could only shake his head when out-of-tune voices joined along to the videos. The only part he liked was when Mordred joined him on the couch to snuggle instead of dancing about.

 

Arthur watched as Merlin left the viewing of Halloween music videos to go into kitchen. He realized their little one had been yawning quite frequently as the boy's head was resting on his shoulder. Therefore he knew why his husband had gone into the other room and it wasn’t the popcorn he had secretly been hoping for earlier

He figured Mordred had to be half asleep on him with eyes closed similar to their morning routine. So Arthur didn't bother to change the channel when he saw the intro to the next video. Since he seen this one a million times and remember some of it being scary especially in the beginning.

Of course, he didn't realize how tired he was from the action of the day as his eyes shut for just a few moments. This caused Arthur to jump at the loud scream came from the television. Which made him quickly hit the power button as he felt Mordred wake up from his movement. Since with the brief second he saw on the screen before the TV turned off had been of a man turning into a werewolf.

“What do you think is so funny?” He said turning his head toward the doorway where his laughing husband stood.

“You jumped at least a foot.” Said Merlin heading toward the couch after the chuckle fit with a bottle of milk in hand.

“Daddy got scared?” Said the young man looking a bit confused at what was going on.

“He did.” His husband said while gave the bottle over to the boy. “But its okay, everyone’s afraid sometimes.”

“Otay” Said Mordred getting up to follow Merlin who was leaving the room to what he figured was upstairs to the nursery.

“Maybe we should go to bed as well.” Arthur said at his husband while they head up the stairs.

“Sound like a good idea.” Said Merlin as they had reached the top of the stairs and started moving to the master bedroom. “What do you think, honey? Should we snuggle together and keep Daddy safe from the scary monsters?”

“Uh-huh.” Said the young man suddenly finding renewed energy to run toward the room.

He understood why his husband had offered their bed tonight for spooky things always occurred late on Halloween night. Plus Arthur had a sneaking suspense he had been wrong about his little knight not seeing the music video. This could only mean there would be a nightmare of some kind with a creepy creature which Merlin and he were going to need to be there when it did happen. Since they would have to give Mordred love and lots of support to show everything was going to be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the rights to any of the candy mention in this chapter. If I did, free candy for everyone which is why I most likely do not own any candy companies.


	22. Tooth fairy comes a calling.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mordred's bottom wisdom teeth need to be removed. What kind of things will occur with a loopy Mordred at home? Lets find out, shall we.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Everyone,
> 
> I hope you are all doing well. Thanks you for the kudos and comments. Please enjoy this next installment!!! 
> 
> Warning: A tissues or two might be required to read this chapter (Sorry)
> 
> P.S. This has been beta by the wonderful littlewebby! So don't forget to thank her as well.

November 11th 

Mordred felt overwhelmed as he tried to process everything going on around him. It didn’t help that there were a bunch of paperwork for him to read and sign while people moved about the room which distracted him. To make matters worse, his heart beat was being broadcasted to everyone in room. For he was in an oversize dental chair in an office different than Gwen’s about to get his bottom wisdom teeth removed. 

It started about a week ago, just a dull ache while working on a complicated word problem for his math class. Something he thought was due to his gorge on sweets from the past couple of days and decided he needed to brush the back of his teeth better. Since Mordred figured he had a small cavity forming and it would be brought up on his next dental visit for a cleaning. 

Therefore Mordred went back to his school work as he wanted to finish by noon that day. For his timeline according to the plan set up by Arthur and Merlin this month was to be little by the afternoon. It had become a way for him to deal with going from one head-space to another while handling his course load so he didn't get stressed out. As Mordred tended to turn into a crabby crab, a nickname from Arthur when he fought within himself to stay adult for too long. 

So only on weekdays, Mordred tried his best to wake up in the morning with a red card mind frame. If he was able to, whoever was going in to work or meeting a client allowed him to shower and to dress himself in whatever he saw fit. It keep his mode from slipping as rough blue jeans weren't comfy to his little side that rather be wearing sweatpants on these chilly days with a soft animal print sweater. 

Of course, Merlin and Arthur were still there to make sure certain aspects of the day were met. For example, ensuring he had breakfast as a bowl of dry cereal and a tumbler cup of juice always greeted him as he started up his laptop for the day. In addition, a two hour timer on his phone which always managed to be near him somehow, had been set up to go off to signaling time for a break. Knowing they were supportive and cheering him on silently always put a smile on his face before he dealt with school work. 

This was why he had forgotten about what he considered a simple fault in his mouth when an extremely sharp pain stabbed him a few days later. Mordred wanted to hide his discomfort initially since he been eating a candy bar at the time that he wasn’t supposed to have. However he knew Merlin and Arthur would figure out why his behavior was off as his left ear was ringing and a headache was starting to form. So Mordred left his hiding spot in the pantry where he found the bag of Halloween goodies on the top shelf. 

He was spotted by Merlin first who gave him a disappointed look at the treat in his hand. Of course, the expression was softened when he explain what was wrong and even got a hug from the dark haired man. Then Arthur had come up behind him to tag Mordred out, in addition, to declare victory of the game they had been playing before being told what was going on. 

An emergency appointed with Mrs. Gwen the dentist had been schedule the next day with x-rays involved. She found that the bottom wisdom teeth were shifting towards his molars and needed removal as soon as possible. That required a specialist who had experience in oral surgery, a stranger to him named Tom who looked familiar in some strange way and his parents seemed to know. 

“It’s going to be okay, Mordred.” Said a female voice to the left of him and he was a bit shocked to see it was Gwen. “My father will take good care of you, I promise.” 

Mordred nodded at her, seeing the connection as he looked over at the gentleman talking to Merlin and Arthur.  However he was a bit confused as no one had informed him about Gwen being here. Of course, it did make him feel somewhat better knowing she was going to be assisting. For why else would she be wearing scrubs, gloves, and had a surgical mask around her ears. 

 

He finished signing the paperwork after taking a quick read on what the words said. A nurse took it away five seconds later and Mordred had a feeling like things were about to get real. Talking about the procedure was one thing but seeing the equipment being placed by an assistant had fear rolling off of him in waves.  Maybe it had been seeing the word 'resuscitate' that brought on the realization this procedure was just as dangerous as those done at a hospital. 

Luckily for him, his parents seemed to sense the change in his mood. For Arthur and Merlin would stop their conversation with Tom to come over toward him. While they reminded him that it was going to be alright, he noticed Merlin had moved to block the view of his right arm. It was only the prick of a needle that made him understand why. 

"I love you" He blurted out as tears filled his eyes when reality hit him. 

Mordred was scared that they didn't know that particular piece of information at the moment. Since he rarely said those three words to them in red mode and Mordred wanted them to hear it out loud before he went under. For what if he never got to see them again, would they know how grateful he was for having them in his life and how much they had made his world better. 

"Love you too, sweetheart" said Merlin without skipping a beat while taking his hand to squeeze. "Don't think like that, okay" 

Mordred could only nod at Merlin for he felt too choked up to reply back. He tried to calm himself by taking a deep breath but it didn't stop a tear from leaving his eye or the butterflies in his stomach to settle. Since his mind was racing with so many different scenarios and not all of them were good as he look at Arthur who had yet to say anything. 

"Love you lots, buddy" Said Arthur who he could tell was worried but took his other hand and placed a kiss on his forehead.  "Just picture what we are going to do after this." 

Listening to the word of advice, Mordred closed his eyes. The thought of being at home with his parents came to mind as he was instructed to count backwards from one hundred. He said ninety-nine while imagining what kind of lunch would be waiting for him as he was hungry and Merlin promised him that he could pick whatever he wanted. Then ninety-eight came out while visualizing what the afternoon would be like, maybe playing trains with Arthur before the sedation took over. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Arthur had never been good at waiting when it came to sitting in doctors’ offices. The magazines were always several months out of date and had nothing he would be interesting in reading. In addition, the television was always on a boring talk show where the host laughed too much at the guests' not-so-funny jokes or had segments that required a visit to the website to get full information. 

Therefore he unlocked his phone to find anything to keep his mind busy. A nice game were matching objects was involved perhaps or one of the many books to read in order to stay occupied. Since looking at the non moving clock was going to drive him insane. For how could time be moving that slowly as it had only been five minutes after they had been asked to join others in the waiting room. 

 

Arthur still felt on edge as he turned off his phone’s screen for he couldn’t concentrate on anything. He wondered if this was how Merlin had been feeling when he had to having his appendix removed in their first year of marriage. As he himself had never waited for someone else's procedure to be done, it was to say the least nerve-raking. 

He was just going to ask his husband how could a person sit and read a book when a loved one was having an operation done when he realized Merlin wasn’t there. Panic took a hold of him for a moment before he found his husband chatting away with the desk receptionist. It seemed everything was going well as both were laughing and Merlin came back toward him smiling. 

“What was that about?” Asked Arthur not liking the fact he was being left out of the loop. 

“I asked if I could get Mordred’s teeth once they are removed.” Said Merlin who sat down next to him and placing a hand on his knee. “She said that it was possible.” 

“Why would you want those?” Arthur questioned while giving his husband a baffled look. 

“They are for the tooth fairy, you prat.” Said Merlin as his lover laughed lightly at him. “I figured Mordred could put them under his pillow tonight and she would pay the Pendragon home a visit.” 

“Oh, I forgot about her.” Said Arthur remembering when he got a few dollars a tooth when he was a kid. “How much do you think wisdom teeth are worth?” 

“I was thinking about 20 bucks each” Said Merlin who grabbed his phone as his husband’s was most likely at home. 

Arthur watched as Merlin swiped the screens on the phone looking for a particular button before typed in his search engine app. There a few types of brightly colored play-sets for toy cars came to be displayed on his phone. Seeing the price values as Merlin went thought the different versions with him, Arthur came to understand where his husband’s reasoning for the price of the teeth. This way the money would ensure that Mordred would be able to purchase one of the play-sets as a reward. 

 

Arthur groaned as he lost his last round on his game and knew he couldn’t wait patiently for the next chance to play in five minutes. If he had to watch that countdown it was going to be worse than the clock in the waiting room that still seemed to be too slow in his option. So he checked his e-mails instead and saw that nothing major was going on at the office today. Unless his staff had purposely rerouted his e-mails to Leon and Mithian in order to keep him away from doing anything work related.

Having nothing to do as his idea of getting ahead on his work load was gone, he looked over at Merlin who had been reading earlier. However it seemed his husband was just as jittery as he was and had switched to drawing. From what Arthur could make out it seemed to be a design for a lotion brand or maybe even hair gel. 

This made him wonder what business this could be for as it wasn’t any that he had worked with lately. Pent-King Corporation had pick up many new clients since Merlin and his successful trip back in October. Therefore it was feasible that he had yet to work with whomever this new campaign logo was for. 

“It’s for an up and coming beverage company.” Said his husband as Merlin kept drawing away without even looking at him but must have sensed his gaze. “It’s one of your father’s new interests. George’s designs weren’t working for the client.” 

“Well it looks decent.” Said Arthur who really had no clue what he was looking at. 

“You’re such a dollop head when you’re bored.” Merlin said putting down the colored pencil and grabbing another sketch pad from the leather messenger bag on the floor to hand to him. “Here just doodle before you burn a hole in my paper and make me start all over.” 

“I’m sorry if I can’t focus on anything.” Said Arthur taking the pad and markers his husband had pulled out as well. “I can’t pace here and you know that helps me in difficult situations. Besides, I know you are just as worried about Mordred as I am since you scratched out five perfectly good designs already.” 

“I know it does seem like forever but it will be over soon.” Said Merlin as the dark haired man switched to another color pencil. “And those designs just didn’t fit within the customer’s request, cabbage head.” 

“What is it with you and the strange head nicknames today?” Asked Arthur as he started flipping though the pad to find a clean page to work on as this seemed to be little Mordred’s with all the stick figures and such. 

“Just call them as I see them.” Said Merlin giving him a shrug before going back to work on the logo design. 

“Hey, have you seen this one?” Questioned Arthur who stopped his flipping as he came to a picture of them clearly done by red card Mordred as it was signed and dated. 

“He did that for his art class.” Said Merlin looking over his shoulder at the page and smiled at him. “Got a B plus on it if I’m not mistaken.” 

“Why would he draw us?” Asked Arthur confused while taking in the details of the drawing. “And why such a low grade, this is amazing.” 

“It was part of the assignment, to draw people in your life.” Said Merlin taking the pad to flip the page over to show it was called my daddies before returning it to the front to point to the ears. “He would have gotten a higher grade if his portions were better.” 

“Maybe Mordred was trying to be nice by giving you smaller ears.” Arthur said while grinning at Merlin before flicking that particular body part on his husband. 

“He did say something along those lines, Prat” Said Merlin who frowned at him while covering the poor hit ear. “However the picture Mordred used for the drawing had to be sent as well so the professor could see the imperfections.” 

“Well, I still think it’s great.” Said Arthur flipped a few more pages until he came to a blank one.

“He is getting better that’s for sure.” Said Merlin, pushing him slightly causing him to mess up with the line he was drawing. “Just think how great he’ll be in a year and a half.” 

“You mean when he’s walking the stage and graduating with his associate degree.” Said Arthur as he imagined what the future held alongside his husband. “He will look awesome in that cap and gown.” 

He heard his husband agree before starting a war of scribbles by ruining his drawing. It might have been an extremely bad looking car but he had been proud of it until it had been hit with Merlin’s swirling blue colored pencil. This led him to mark up his husband’s pad with dots of red. Of course, Arthur made sure to stay far enough away from the customer’s deign to keep himself from being in hot water later. 

 

Arthur had just gotten his idea for what he would call his drawing, which had become a bunch of swirls in several colors. When he was tapped on the shoulder by his husband who was packing up all the supplies they had pulled out. This led him to look over at the hallway door of the office to see Gwen smiling at them. 

He quickly handed over the sketch pad while shoving markers into random slots. For his need to see Mordred far out weighted the rainbow colored scheme that he knew his husband preferred. Especially since they had been waiting for over two hours and that seemed like such a long time to him to be left in the unknown. 

“Mordred is still unconscious.” Gwen said to his husband and him once they were close enough to her. “The procedure went extremely well. Just took longer to get the teeth out as they were impacted deeper than we original thought.” 

Arthur listened to Gwen as she explained about the after treatment that would need to be taken care of as his husband and he followed her down the hall to the room Mordred was in. He knew it was important but his mind didn’t seem to be retaining any of the information she was giving. For all he could think about at the moment was his little knight and getting the young man home. 

He totally missed what his husband had asked Gwen as the door to the room number three was opened and he could see Mordred starting to wake up. Figuring that Merlin would fill him in on the details later, Arthur walked over toward the dental chair. Never before had he been so happy to see Mordred open those beautiful blue eyes. 

“Ninety-ssseven.” Said Mordred a bit puzzled at seeing him. 

“This is a common occurrence. He thinks we haven’t done the procedure yet.” Said Gwen to his husband and him while she came over to the chair and placed a hand on Mordred’s arm. “Hey sweetie, everything is all set and you did really well.” 

“Done?” Questioned Mordred trying to get up, off the chair before Arthur stopped the disorientated little from falling down. 

“Yes, Love.” Arthur said as he picked up Mordred with the notion of carry the boy out of the building instead of dealing with the young man wobbling around and getting injured. “We are ready to go home.” 

“I’ll text you the details on what we were talking about later.” Said Gwen giving a pat to the young man’s back as everyone was heading toward the door. “Bye Mordred, I’m sure your daddies will take good care of you.” 

“Bye-Bye” Said Mordred who drooled a little on the back of his shirt but Arthur didn’t care as he was just glad to be holding the young man in his arms. 

“Oh and Merlin, don’t forget about finding those items I mentioned.” Said Gwen, before Merlin and he were out of ear shot as they walked toward the door with the exit sign. 

Arthur wondered what Gwen was referring to as they headed to the car. Hoping whatever it was would be useful to their little one who seemed to be using his shoulder as a pillow. For he figured the young man was going to be in distress for a week or more and Arthur didn’t like seeing his little knight suffer. Therefore Arthur decided to do anything in his power to make sure Mordred was as comfortable as possible in the upcoming days. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Merlin was carefully watching Mordred as they were stacking the mega blocks set into a tower in the living room. He had hoped to get the boy to lie down on the couch to recover. However Arthur had promised the young man some fun time before lunch on the ride home from Tom’s surgical office. In addition, there was no way he could have been able to say no to two sets of puppy dog eyes. 

Therefore several pillows from all over the house bordered the young man who was loopy from the pain medication. The barriers had been done since Mordred kept losing balance and tipped over either to the left or the right depending on how the boy was moving. Of course, his little elf giggled after every trip into the soft plush objects as if it was a game they were playing. 

While he was more concerned with how he was going to get Mordred to eat as both the kitchen and dining room chairs wouldn’t be able to give much support to a dazed young man. He pondered about using the breakfast in bed tray with lunch being served in the living room. This led Merlin to thinking about the aftermath which might get quite messy. Of course, he could just place a table cloth down beforehand was his idea when he noticed Mordred’s arm moving. 

“No-no, Sweetheart.” Merlin said while he grabbed Mordred’s hand. “No fingers in the mouth. Remember that Daddy and I told you about the stitches in the back.” 

“Still feels funny.” Said Mordred as the boy gave him a pouty face. 

“I know but you can’t touch.” Said Merlin who could see the boy’s tongue moving around as Mordred’s mouth was slightly opened. 

“Have binky?” Said Mordred drooling a bit and this made Merlin grateful for thinking of putting a bib on the boy. 

“No honey, I’m sorry.” Said Merlin figuring this news was going to be taken hard by the boy. “We can’t have the stitches pop.” 

Seeing tears forming into the boy’s eyes, Merlin felt awful for being so unprepared. He hadn’t realized certain things that his little elf loved were forbidden to be used after surgery. It had only been when Merlin read the text from Gwen with the details of the do and don’t with a little whom had wisdom teeth removed that he had found out. 

“Don’t cry, Love.” He heard his husband say as he watched Arthur moved closer to give the boy a sideways hug. “It’s only until the stitches dissolve and then you can have all the binkies you want.” 

“Really?” Said Mordred looking over at him since it seemed he was deemed the bad guy in this situation. “Can have one later?” 

“Yes Sweetheart, in about a week or so.” Said Merlin moving from his spot on the carpet to join his little and husband in a cuddle fest. 

“I know something else we should talk about.” Said Arthur tickling Mordred’s belly and got a soft giggle. “Somebody has a rumble in their tummy.” 

“Want Mashies.” The young man said smiling at him before snuggling up to his husband. 

“That’s sounds good to me” Said Merlin as he got up and ruffling the boy’s hair as he made his way to the kitchen. 

Merlin appreciated the boy's decision for mash potatoes which were soft and easy to eat. As he entered the kitchen Merlin realized how he was going to get the young boy to seat for lunch without falling onto the floor. For it seemed Arthur had already planned that out as the high chair stood in what they all considered to be Mordred’s spot at the table. 

 

Merlin had just scooped mash potatoes into Mordred’s green bowl when Arthur and the young man entered the kitchen. The boy was being carried by his husband and he wonder if it was a strategic move as well as for the young man’s safety. This way, Mordred wouldn’t see it coming when Arthur placed the young man down into the high chair. 

He predicted tears and maybe some screaming when Mordred got placed into the seat that they knew the boy didn’t seem to like the idea of. However the young man just laid back into the chair after being buckled and locked in. It seemed it had been a good idea to try out the chair on a day the young man was so docile. 

Smacking his husband’s hand as Arthur wanted to take the bowl from him, Merlin pointed to the stove. For these mash potatoes were for his little elf that had already cool down a bit. Since Mordred had a habit of shoving hot food into the mouth without blowing on the spoon or fork first which resulted in a burned tongue. 

“Hey honey.” Said Merlin sitting down in his chair and placed the bowl and a spoon on the table. “Look what Papa has for you.” 

“Me have please” Said Mordred who sat up and made grabby hands at the food. “Me feed self.” 

Merlin suddenly felt like a clue had been given to him on why the boy always gave the high chair a scared look. It did seem like something the boy would be bothered with. Since he had control over the bowl as it was next to him instead of in Mordred’s possession. Sometimes Merlin wished he didn’t have to think so cruel about things like this but knew at one point in time someone else had. For he figured a person had forced his little elf to watch them eat while being restrained and the boy got nothing. 

“Alright, Papa wouldn’t feed you.” Said Merlin moving the bowl and the spoon on the tray in Mordred’s reach. “But I will help if you have trouble” 

“Tank you” Said the young man picking up the spoon while giving him a smile. 

“Do you think that’s a wise decision?” Questioned Arthur to him as his husband sat down in the chair on the other side of Mordred. 

“Not really.” Said Merlin who watched as Mordred striked the bib the young man was wearing with the spoon full of food. “And I see you found the leftover meatloaf from Tuesday.” 

“Well, I had to find something to go with the mash potatoes.” Said Arthur who had in his opinion went through the refrigerator on purpose. 

“I prepared tuna sandwiches and soup for us.” Merlin said while giving Mordred’s arm a bit of an adjustment to make sure the young man hit target. “What was wrong with those?” 

“Maybe you were planning on making that.” Said Arthur confused which caused him to turn his head toward the kitchen counter. “Because there's nothing else except potatoes.” 

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Said Merlin as he was apologetic when looked back at his husband. “I guess you’re right. I was preoccupied thinking about where I put that particular pair of mittens we bought months ago.” 

“Sippy?” Asked Mordred who he could tell was checking the table for a container with handles and lid. “Juice for me?” 

“Papa has a drink right here for you.” Merlin said while showing the young man a plastic cup. “You have to use both hands and let me assist you.” 

“No like this.” Said the boy frowning at him before taking a cautionary sip out of the cup they both were holding. 

Merlin could only agree with his little elf as he placed the cup back down on the table. He identified with how Mordred was feeling as the guidelines were very difficult to follow. Especially when Merlin kept denying the young man the things that Arthur and he had in a way gotten the boy sort of addicted to. Plus Merlin was conflicted about one other object that Mordred had yet to ask for and he could only pray the young man understood why he had to say no. 

 

After finishing his own lunch, Merlin looked over at his little who had a face covered in mash potatoes. The young man’s eyes were drooping and Merlin knew he had to try to get Mordred out of the high chair on his own. For he had been hoping Arthur would have been back by now from the search of the missing mittens. 

So he got up to grab a soft cloth from the kitchen drawer to clean up the mess that appeared to have multiplied since he last checked. As he walked toward the counter, he felt the string on the apron he was wearing come loose. He turned to see that Mordred was holding on one of the cords while giving him a teary look. 

“Don’t Papa.” Said Mordred as the boy tugged on the string as if to pull him closer. “No leave me.” 

“I’m just getting something to clean you up with.” Merlin said who could see the fear in his little elf’s eyes. “It will take me just a second, Sweetheart.” 

It dawned on him at that very moment as he opened the drawer, about there being another reason to explain why Mordred had a misgiving when it came to the highchair. For Merlin could comprehend how a person might feel trapped when being locked into a seat. Mainly because he had a bad feeling in his gut that his baby had been left alone in a similar chair for who knew how long at one time in order to be so worried about him doing the same thing. 

“Papa and Daddy will only ever put you in there for meals, Honey.” Merlin said as he moved towards the mess awaiting him to clean up. “And we’ll take you out right after.” 

“Promise?” Asked Mordred who stuck out both pinkies toward him. 

“Of course I do, Sweetheart.” Said Merlin as he entwined his fingers with the young man’s and figured he should get a verbal on how the boy felt about this new development. “What do you think of the chair?” 

“It’s comfy.” Said Mordred as the boy slumped in the seat after their exchange of the pinky swear. 

“Is it better than the kitchen chairs?” Merlin questioned while he cleaned up the very messy face of Mordred as well as the boy’s hands. 

“Uh-huh” Said Mordred who turned a little bit to point at the fabric on the high chair’s cushion. “Got flying friends.” 

Merlin gives Mordred’s forehead a kiss after he finished wiping down the tray and the rest of the mess. It made him smile when the young man made him move closer for a sloppy wet smooch on the cheek. If anything, it proved that Mordred was doing alright with this new arrangement. Plus it showed how trusting the young man had become with Arthur and him. 

 

Merlin placed his apron on the hook as he exited the kitchen to walk into the living room. He had imagined his little dozing on his husband which would happen while watching a movie. As he decided after lunch to make sugar cookies which he figured might come in handy later tonight. Plus he wanted to give Arthur some time with Mordred as it had been a hectic week for his husband at work and there had been hardly any time for the blond haired man to spend with their little. 

However when he entered the room, he found Mordred on the couch alone and half-asleep. Merlin looked around for his husband until he heard a voice talking most likely in the office and figured Arthur was on the phone with someone. He realized it had to be important as there would be no other reason for his husband to have left the young man unaccompanied. 

Thankfully Arthur had the foresight to put the green mittens that had been found located in a box inside the nursery’s closet on the young man before leaving the room. It was a good call in his opinion as Mordred had been trying all throughout lunch to touch the stitches. Of course, he could see that boy did not like the new accessories as there were tear tracks on the young man’s cheeks. 

“Off please.” Said the young man showing him covered hands as Merlin came to sit on the couch. 

“Sorry Sweetheart.” Said Merlin peeking at the Scottie dog printed mittens keeping Mordred’s fingers in fists and were tied in double knots at the boy’s wrist. “Those are on to protect you.” 

He heard the young man grumble before trying to moving closer to cuddling up to him. Merlin gave the boy a sympathetic rub on the back once Mordred had reached him. For today did not seem to be the young man's lucky day. Especially with the movie on the screen not being the boy’s favorite but another animated one. 

"Papa." Asked Mordred as the boy’s head rested on his shoulder. 

“"What it is sweetheart?" Merlin said running his fingers into the boy’s soft curly hair. 

"Daddy said no milk-milk." Said Mordred who he could tell was crying. 

"I'm sure he didn't imply it like that." Merlin said while he tried to think of something to cheer up his little elf. "You can have a mug of warm milk with some cookies that I made" 

"Really." Said Mordred sitting up and allowed him to wipe away the tears. "Sit in my dragon chair" 

"Only if you want to, Honey." Said Merlin giving the young man a warm grin to reassure that the chair happened to be a good choose and started to get up with the boy in tow. 

"Did I hear something about cookies?" Asked Arthur who come in the room with cell phone. "Sorry it was my father." 

“Only three each, Daddy.” Said Mordred as his husband picked up the young man. “Papa’s rule.” 

Merlin laughed while he walked after the duo into the kitchen. For he knew Arthur was going to scheme a way into getting more cookies than that. However, Merlin would allow it since that talk with Usher must have been frustration and there was the painful work of carrying Mordred around. This he hoped only lasted for today as he figured Arthur’s back wouldn’t be able to take it for too long and a massage from him might be required.


	23. Being thankful.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mordred's first Thanksgiving with Merlin and Arthur and the adventure at a family member's house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Everyone, 
> 
> I hope you all are doing well. These latest chapters have been giving me some trouble. So I apologizes for the wait and thank you for being patience. Enjoy this chapter!
> 
> P.S. This chapter is not beta but I will get the edited version up when I can. So please beware of spelling and grammar errors. Thanks!

November 24th

Mordred woke up feeling quite strange as it seemed like he was moving. This made him realize he wasn’t in his crib at home even if his fingers touched the familiar fabric of his green fleece blanket and one of his two stuff animals. Plus when Mordred tried to shift into another position than the one he was in, there were restricts to his movements like the straps he wore when in his car seat. Figuring out he was in Papa’s cars going somewhere, Mordred opened an eye to see he was correct.

He blinked a few times in order to fully wake himself up as Mordred looks out the window at the scenery going by. An exit sign passing by caused him to remember what his Papa and Daddy had talked about a few days ago. That they were all going to spend the special day at someone’s house which was a six hour drive away from home. 

This was a bit scary yet exciting to him as today represented his first Thanksgiving with his daddies. Then there was the fact that the person they were going to visit happened to be very important to his papa. It came back to him quickly as he recalled his parents conversing last night before bed time about the wonderful holiday meals of past with Hunith, Merlin’s mom.

“Well good morning sleepyhead.” He heard Papa speak to him who was seating in the passenger seat. “Did you a nice dream?”

Mordred nodded to his papa at the same time he thought of what made him leave the dreamland that he had been in. A nightmare had been the result which regarded Hunith not like him being his daddies’ little. Since he knew Uther didn’t particular care about him but Arthur said the man was grumpy at the best of times.

“Nothing to be worried about, Love.” Said Daddy who he noticed was looking at him though the rear-view mirror. “Grandma is going to be smiting the second she lays eyes on you.”

“Like my gift too?” Said Mordred as he hugged Shadow his stuffed dog tightly in one hand and playing with his binky strap with his other.

“Of course, it going to be the best centerpiece she ever had, Honey.” Said Papa as the dark haired man showed him the shiny wrapped present. “I know since I’ve made plenty of them for her.”

“Don’t forget about your turkey.” Said Daddy as Arthur continued to watch the road as they speed along the highway. “I’m sure she going to love that.”

Mordred felt himself blush at the mention of the art work he had done at daycare yesterday. It wasn’t anything really fancy, just his left hand traced on a piece of construction paper and decorated to look like the main figure of thanksgiving. The only thing that made the drawing so important happen to be the four items he was thankful for which were written down next to each feather.

It had taken Mordred longer than the other littles to come up with what his four points were. Of course, his daddies were the first feather and he had colored it in their two favorite shades. The next one had been the reason he took a great deal of time on. For he wanted to go with Gwaine since the long haired man was his best friend or even Auntie Morgause for all she had done for him.However he would run out of feathers if he added all the wonderful people that had entered his life so he went with family and friends. 

The third which he decided to color green went to his stuffed animals as they were always there for him not matter what time of day or night. It had seemed like the right thing to go with as many of the rest at his table had their favorite fluffy creature on their list as well. Then the last one had been written by Elena, the staff member working with him after she rattled things off. So binkies came to be the fourth line and he sort of agreed with it for he did seem to have an attachment to them. 

“Mordred, what do you think if we stop at the next rest point?” Asked Papa interrupting his thought as he was about to put his pacifier into his mouth.

“Yes, Please” Said Mordred who kind of wanted to get out of the yucky diaper the car seat buckles kept remind him of whenever he moved his legs. 

“Merlin, are you seriously?” Said Daddy that he could tell didn’t seem too happy with the idea. “We are twenty minutes away from your mom’s house.”

“Well some of us need a break if you get my drift. After all I had to keep caffeinated to stay awake and keep you from taking the wrong route like last year.” Said Papa annoyed by Daddy’s resistance to the change in plan as well as showing two empty travel mugs. “Plus the exit sign show your favorite coffee shop that we don’t have anywhere near us.”

“Well it’s not my fault those two exits say the same words but one is a street and the other a town. And have you thought about breakfast with Hunith that we are supposed to be at?” Said Arthur who seemed consider about getting to their destination. “We’ll miss it if we don’t get there soon.”

“I’ll call my mom to let her know what the holdup is. Beside she would have waited for us to put the cinnamon rolls in the oven anyways, you prat.” Said Papa as Merlin pointed to the sign ahead. “Just take the exit, dear. I think I hear a latte calling for you.”

Mordred giggled at Papa’s words as he felt the car moving toward the rest area which was a big building with several fast-food companies located within. He had been kind of hoping that Papa or Daddy would opt for a pit stop. Since his jammies were very comfy and cozy to be while on a road trip, they didn’t speak to him as attire to be worn when meeting someone for the first time.

 

Mordred held his daddies’ hands as they walked into the building. He hadn’t realized how busy it would be inside but it made sense with all the cars outside. It seemed everyone was heading somewhere far to be with family today. It sort of made him feel included for once like he was going with the grain instead of the opposite. Since last year had been him alone with an easy to microwave meal.

However he didn’t want to continue down the path of the past as he needed to be present in what was going on around him. For he became aware of his daddy’s hand let go as Papa and him were moving in a different direction. This confused Mordred as they should be following Arthur to the men’s room. Of course, he understood when they got to a door why they weren’t and felt his face turning red.

As they entered the restroom designed for littles, Mordred looked around as he had yet to be in one before. It seemed similar to a regular single occupied bathroom except for a certain thing that he needed. For on the larger side of the room away from the door, he found the changing table which could easily hold someone much taller and bigger than him. 

When Papa came over toward him with his green messenger bag, Mordred recalled what had happened much earlier this morning. Since he had been fuzzy on how he had gotten from his comfortable bed to the car. The scenario at the moment seemed quite similar to the events previously as Papa had been the person who disturbed his dream of playing with fluffy black puppies so they could prepare to head out on their journey. 

After a quick change, he remembered Daddy carrying him to the Blue Tucson with his green blanket wrapped around him to stay warm. There had been a bottle of milk in his car seat’s cup holder waiting for him. Even with his favorite drink, the only good part of being woken up at two in the morning had been Papa seating in the backseat to keep him company. 

 

Mordred smiled behind his binky as Papa and he were walking toward the café section of the pit stop building. For he could see his daddy in the distance with what looked like four drinks being held by a cardboard tray. Figuring one of those paper cups held a hot chocolate for him; he started skipping in effort to reach Daddy sooner.

After what felt like forever but in reality only happened to be a few mere minutes, Papa and he reached Daddy’s location. It was due to the swarms of people rushing past them as the source of their delay. Something that had bothered him during the trek but was quickly forgot as Mordred carefully hugged his daddy.

“Hey buddy, I like your sweater.” Said Daddy as Arthur gave his tummy a tickle that made him giggle. “It’s very festive.”

“Papa made it.” Said Mordred feeling the raised fabric designed by Merlin which had been sewn on a plain maroon pullover. “It’s got a turkey.”

“I could only find ones that had odd phrases on them.” Papa said giving Arthur an explanation as well as taking Mordred’s hand. “So I build my own.”

“You never seem to like anything expect your creations with Gwen.” Said Daddy before they all started heading toward the doors leading to the outside. “Hey, where’s Shadow?”

“It’s only when it comes to my little elf.” Said Papa as Merlin tugged him closer and away from the incoming traffic heading their way. “We left her in the car.” 

“In my seat?” Asked Mordred quietly for doubt had started creeping into his mind.

“Yes, remember Shadow is guarding the car.” Papa said squeezing his hand while smiling in a reassuring way. “ 

Mordred wasn’t quite sure that his papa was correct as they left the building. For what if he had left Shadow in the restroom and they drove off without her. It wouldn’t be very nice of him not to at least go back and check for her. However, his mind would stop those thoughts of Shadow not being in the blue Tucson as he took Daddy’s fist. Since he would retain information of how he held both his daddies’ hands earlier.

Of course, it was only after Papa opened the door where his car seat was located did Mordred feel complete relief. For Shadow sat in his chair just as he had been told as well as looked to be waiting for cuddle from him. This was the reason Mordred climbed eagerly inside the Tucson to give his doggie a big hug while being strapped in by his papa.

Then Mordred got giddy for he saw Daddy pouring hot chocolate into one of the Sippy cups from the green messenger bag. He frowned as he saw cold milk being added to the drink which confused him until it was given to him. For his drink felt warm instead of extremely hot like he figured it had been when served at the cafe. This caused him to realize how his daddies were always looking out for him even if it was something as simple as keeping him from a burn tongue. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Merlin could feel it the moment his car made the turn onto the street which his mother’s house was on, nostalgia. For just seeing his childhood home even a few feet away brought back wonderful and happy recollections of past holidays. Something he hoped to share with Mordred so that the young man got to have joyful memories of family tradition as well. 

Of course, first he had to wake up the young man snoozing in the backseat of his Tucson. As it seemed a few handful of cheerios out of a colorful bowl with the hot chocolate had lulled Mordred back to sleep. So he decided to wait until Arthur had pulled into the driveway before turning around to gently rouse the boy from slumber.

Merlin tickled the boy’s left foot as it seemed the shoes and socks that he had placed on Mordred earlier had been somehow removed. It didn’t take much to get movement from his sleepy little elf who gazed at him for a second before looking around. Merlin smiled as he figured the young man had realized where they were and saw the excitement as well as distress in the boy’s eyes.

A knock on his door caused Merlin to jump as he had been paying too much attention to Mordred and he could see the young man giggling at his reaction. Shaking his head but glad it had ease the boy’s anxiety, Merlin turned around to find his mother waiting for him to exit the car. This caused him to remove his seat-belt quickly which he happened to still be wearing while opening his door after she had moved away to greet her with a hug.

His heart warmed as words of love and kisses were placed onto his cheeks. As it had been far too long in his opinion since Merlin had seen his mom and it was a treasure to be in her present. For mother’s day had been his last visit to her house in which he had taken the six hour trip alone. Due to the fact that his husband and he agreed it had been too soon for Mordred to meet a family member. Especially with how Mordred had meet some of their friends in such a short succession back at that time.

“Now where is this grand-little that I have heard so much about?” Hunith asked him as they pulled away from their love fest with a twinkle in her eye.

“At the moment, he’s using Arthur like a shield.” Said Merlin noticing Mordred as the young man peeked at his mother and him from behind his husband. “Mordred’s a bit shy when it comes to meeting people.”

“Oh, just like his papa use to be when he was younger.” Said his mother turning toward Arthur and the hiding little. “Peek-a-boo, I see you.”

Merlin tempted his best not to but couldn’t help to laugh as his mother stood in front of his husband before swiftly looking at the back of Arthur. For she would break the ice with Mordred by trying to snag the young man as the two of them walked quickly around the fix point that his husband had become. Giggling could be heard as his mother finally bested the young man by switching directions which the boy hadn’t been expecting and allowed for her to tickle as well as hug the captured little.

“Well hello there, buttercup.” Said Hunith who Merlin could see was smiling at the young man while guiding Mordred toward the house’s door. “It is an honor to finally meet you.”

Merlin watched the duo enter his mother’s home despite the fact that he needed to be helping Arthur with the overnight bags. Of course, Arthur yelling his name caused him to turn around and almost walk into his annoyed husband who was most likely just cold as well as tired from driving for so long. This made Merlin grabbed things from the car in recorded time to allow Arthur a change to warm up sooner.

 

Upon entering the house with the last of their items, Merlin was certain that his mother had already taken Mordred under her wings. Since the young man was neither in the mudroom nor on the sofa next to his husband who appeared to be flipping the Television to the channel with the parade. Therefore he was left with the logical answer of the kitchen as the whereabouts of his little elf. 

He would find Mordred wearing an apron and careful placing icing on home-made cinnamon rolls that were still steaming while his mother supervised. Not wanting to break the boy’s concentration, Merlin would walk to the other side of the room to start grabbing silverware and plates. Knowing they would be eating in the living room, he took anything that was plastic and not the breakable china.

“I hope you don’t mind” Said Hunith glancing over at him. “I found myself another frosting helper.”

“You’ve replaced me with a younger model, I see.” Said Merlin acting infuriated but smirked at her as he came over to the kitchen table for it didn’t bother him a bit. “How could you.”

“Papa’s job?” Asked Mordred looking at him worried while placing the spoon back in the bowl of icing as if it had been on fire. “You do now.”

“No, Honey.” Said Merlin frustrated with himself for forgetting that green card Mordred didn’t take sarcasm or pretend anger well. “Papa not upset, he was kidding with grandma. I’m actually very happy that you have taken over the icing duty.”

“Really?” Questioned Mordred giving him a confused look as why he wouldn’t want the mission.

“I’m relieved since I don’t think I have it in me to frost another bake good.” Said Merlin as he placed a kiss on the boy’s forehead as well as guided Mordred’s hand back to the spoon. “After all we did make a huge amount of cupcakes for work this week.”

“Oh, yea” said the boy going back to the task at hand and turn toward his mother. “Daddy lost a bet.”

Seeing the troubled face his mom made at him, Merlin went on to explain about what had happen between Arthur and Leon. How a football game had caused a wager to be shook upon and the loser had to bring in the treats for the workers on floor 16 and a few other important people like Morgana. Apparently his husband had been quite confident to make such a deal but ultimately lost in the end causing him to work feverishly to fulfill the demand.

 

It was almost like being at home, with Mordred snuggled between his husband and him on the couch. At first, Merlin had concerns that his mother might be slighted by the affection Arthur and he were receiving from the boy as she had yet to receive any. However she smiled as he looked over from her favorite spot in the room, her rocking recliner.

At the moment, they were all munching on warm cinnamon rolls while watching the thanksgiving parade. A very interesting experience as Mordred kept pointing animatedly at familiar animal balloons causing him and Arthur to bask in the spender that was their little. Since the young man had a way of making the parade which they both had seen for years so much more exciting and enjoyable.

It was at the part when the parade when from turkeys and pilgrims to snow and elves that stumped the boy. As Mordred would look at his husband before turning to him with a puzzled face as if wondering why the change had occurred. Then the television anchor announcing Santa Claus arrival in twenty minutes really seemed to confuse the boy.

“The parade has always ended with the man in red, Love.” Said his husband who started rubbing the young man’s back. “It signals the start of the Christmas season.”

“Oh.” Said Mordred with a frown as it seemed Arthur hadn’t help or at least that what it looked like to him.

“Do you know who Santa Claus is?” Merlin heard his mother ask and was a bit taken back because he had never thought to check to see if the boy did.

“Uh-huh” Said Mordred who nodded before looking down at the hardwood floor. “But he no like me.”

“I’m sure that’s not true, Honey” Said Merlin running his fingers through the boy’s curls.

“Never visited me, Papa.” Mordred said while peering up at him with teary eyes.

“Did you ever talk to him in person, buddy?” Questioned Arthur who he could tell was trying to find a way to keep the young man from crying.

“No, wrote letters” Said Mordred looking up at them curiously.

“Well there's the problem, you probably had the wrong mailing address and he didn’t get them.” Said his mother as she stopped rocking her chair and smiling like she had won the prize. “I’m sure if you go see him at the mall, he will come this year.”

“Really?” Asked Mordred who Merlin knew was starting to feel better about old Saint Nick.

“For sure, I’ll even pinky swear.” Hunith said putting out her little finger to prove her point.

Merlin watched as his little elf got up to close the promise made by his mother, knowing he was going to have to keep it for her. Of course, he had already been planning on taking the young man so he would have a cute picture of Mordred and Santa for their Christmas cards. This however had been a good thing to happen for he figured that his little elf would be more willing to see a white bearded red suit man now unlike the other littles in their group.

 

It was when dancing presents showed up on the television screen that Merlin’s brain recalled the wrapped box in his overnight bag. Getting up to retrieve the object on his mind would prove difficulty as Arthur had spread out on the sofa with the blond haired man’s feet on his lap. For Mordred had decided to give grandma some love after the talk about Santa and was currently cuddling with her. 

So he offered his husband a refill on the empty mug sitting on the table next to Arthur. Since it would get Arthur to move and keep his mother from figuring out why he was getting up before the end of the parade. As she always had a sense of what was going on, a reason why Merlin had never been able to surprise her. Not even when he told her about the prat that he worked with at his new employment several years ago who he had feelings for.

Merlin felt like he might be able to get her on this one as he asked Mordred if the boy needed a drink. His plan involved him grabbing a new sippy cup from the young man’s bag in the mud room, as it would allow him access to the hallway without having to explain why he was going there. Of course, even the best of plans could become unraveled before they are completely figured out. 

“Papa, I want to give Grandma her gift.” Said Mordred as the boy sat up.

“Oh, I thought you had something for me beside the fancy coffee.” His mother said with a smirk on her face as she gave him a wink.

“I was waiting until Mordred asked for it.” Said Merlin trying to act like he hadn’t been caught scheming. “After all, it’s was his idea.”

"I get” Said Mordred who climb out of the recliner and run off toward the mudroom.

Merlin watch as his little elf came back in the room with an orange wrapping box to hand to Hunith. It was an amazing sight to behold, the delight on his mother’s face as she opened the gift. She pulled out the present careful before showing it off, an arrangement of faux autumn colored roses in a clear vase that the boy had added blue marbles to represent water. The flowers were a beautiful chooses in his opinion for it would make a lovely center piece which might finally replace the papier-mâché turkey, he had made in grade school. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Arthur clicked a section of a train track together; a set he had found downstairs that belonged to Merlin from a long time ago. He had initially gone into the basement where Hunith kept her can goods to find the pumpkin puree when the old toy box came into his line of vision. Of course, his husband had made him clean everything beforehand as there had been several layers of dust. 

“Daddy?” Asked Mordred who had been wiping down the trains while he set up the figure eight course.

“Yes, love.” Said Arthur wondering what his little knight might need. “What can I do for you?”

“Me need potty.” Said Mordred as the young man squirmed while giving him a pleading look.

He felt a bit puzzled by the boy’s statement for it had been weeks since the young man had asked to be taken to the bathroom. Plus there were only about 10 stars on Mordred’s calendar which suggested to his husband and him that the young man’s headspace had no interest in wearing pull-ups or using the toilet anymore. However he wasn’t going to deny a request so Arthur guided the boy toward the hallway lavatory.

Upon entering the room, he found himself alone which further confused him as Mordred had been next to him. Wondering if something had distracted the young man, Arthur re-entered the hallway to find the boy standing a bit away for the destination and whimpering. He knew without hesitation what had happened which caused him to leave the boy in place so he could grab the green messenger bag left in the mudroom.

“Don’t worry, Love.” Said Arthur as he came over and hugged the distressed young man. “I understand”

“Me tired, Daddy.” Said Mordred looking up at him as the boy gave him a teary eyed expression while returning the hug. “Waited too long.”

“I know you did, Buddy.” Arthur said while he placed a kiss on the boy’s forehead. “Maybe this is too big for you to handle. Perhaps a break is in order”

Arthur watched Mordred nodded at him when he directed the boy toward the bathroom. He figured the young man needed a push in the right direction with his assurance to guide the way. For he realized it might just help whomever was going to be the one who that had to enforce the full time diaper rule on the boy in December.

 

The football game had only just begun, when Arthur’s stomach rumbled. He attributed the aroma of the turkey cooking in the oven for the reason. A simple solution to the problem was a small snack of cheese on top of crackers or celery sticks. However for him to go into the kitchen to get anything to eat was going to prove difficult since Arthur was banned from the area by his husband and mother-in-law. 

A look over to his left did spark an idea inside his head. For Mordred was lying on the couch, snuggling with him and did have access to the off-limits room. In addition, those puppy eyes and adorable factor could get them something even better than carrot sticks. So Arthur convinced his little knight of the mission as he heard Mordred’s tummy making noises as well.

Unfortunately for him, Mordred didn’t return to the living room after several minutes had passed. This caused Arthur to getting up to investigated what had happened to the young man. For he could only hope the boy had been roped in to helping out with the main meal of the day and not snaking without him. 

He looked into the restricted room to find his first thought to be correct as Mordred stood over a bowl, mashing sweet potatoes. The look on the boy’s face kept him from complaining to his husband who was coming over to his location with what looked like two platters of food. Seeing his options to consume, Arthur figure it would have to do for the time being even if it was a tray full of vegetable.

“A prince told me that you had a grumpy belly.” Said Merlin as his husband kissed his check before handing him a tray. “Can you put that on the coffee table?”

“Is this for me?” Asked Arthur not so thrilled at the appetizers of sort since he didn’t particular like deviled eggs.

“No, Uncle Gaius and Aunt Alice will be here soon.” Said Merlin laughing at him as well as showed him the other platters which had a variety of crackers and cheese. “Do you think I would torture you like that?”

“Maybe, since I attempted to get Mordred to do my bidding.” Arthur said following Merlin toward the living room. “Did he get something to munch on?”

“Mom gave him a few cucumbers and tomatoes that she was cutting for salads.” Said his husband putting down the tray he would be snaking upon later. “Then she offered him a job with the masher.”

“Who doesn’t love smashing things?” Said Arthur as he sat down and grabbed his husband’s hand. “Take a time out from kitchen duty for a second.”

Luckily for him, his husband did as he asked for once as well as joined him on the couch. For he knew Merlin being the ever so busy bee needed a moment to breath and maybe grab a bit to eat. Especially since Arthur could see his mother-in-law sitting at the kitchen table with Mordred chewing on a carrot stick.

 

Arthur took in the sight and sound around him as he sat at the dining room table with Mordred on his left side. He could feel the boy’s eyes moving back and forth from his plate to him and he knew the young man was concerned. However there was nothing wrong with him, he was just enjoying the warmth of family.

Something that he hadn’t been use to until a relationship with Merlin had formed. For his father just saw this holiday as one to eat fancy prepared food by staff instead of made with loved recipes handed down by generations. In addition, there had always been the cold conversations while eating with Uther’s higher ups, were the prospect of the business was more important than anything else. 

The first holiday at his mother-in-laws, Arthur had learned the bliss of laughter and chatter during a meal. It had taken him by surprise to be included in such a special and traditional event in his husband’s life. As Gaius, Alice, and Hunith had welcomed him as if he belonged all along. It still amazed him today which is why he always took a moment to appreciate his surroundings.

“This is what I’m thankful for.” Said Arthur smiling at Mordred for comfort as the boy still seemed worried about him.

“Yummy food?” Questioned the young man confused at him.

“Well beside that.” Arthur said who chuckled as he ruffled the boy’s hair. “It’s everyone here.”

Of course, there were his friends turned family members that he was grateful for having as well. The group of people who had given a hand to them thought the good and bad times in their journey and help in some way with making this year so special. For there sat one person in this room that he knew his husband and he were extra thankful to have in their life today.


	24. A different kind of change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the first day of December and a rule must be enforced. How will it effect the Pendragon family?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Everyone,
> 
> I hope you are all doing well. Sorry for the delay in updates, I spend some time with family. Then work became extremely busy. Hope you enjoy this chapter and have a great day/night!
> 
> P.S. Don't forget to thank Littlewebby for being an awesome beta!

December 1st 

Merlin had imaged how today was going to go for days now with several ideas running around inside his head. The first thought with what might happen, occurred when Mordred threw a tantrum over not wanting a play date with Lance. Knowing the young man sometimes screamed when things didn’t go the way the boy wanted he figured it could be a reasonable assumption. 

Another plan he decided on being a possibility had been Mordred waking up this morning in red card mood. This would cause a delay in the enforcement of full-time diapering by a day. As they had discussed with the young man back in October that adult Mordred only wore pull-ups. Of course, when his eyes opened this morning it had been to a dozing little snuggled up to him which made that option obsolete. 

The third had been the young man sobbing while hugging him and begging not to be put into diapers. A scheme Merlin had initially dreamed up for he had been the one who got Mordred into using the calendar reward system back in May. However, he had been thinking back then that the young man would go the other way with getting 30 stars in a row, resulting in the reward of boyish cartoon underwear which was stacked in a box on the top shelve in the closet. Since after day 14, it became clear to both Arthur and him how foolish they had been in buying those before waiting longer. 

“Papa?” He heard Mordred say which caused him to stop staring at the Kelly green wall in the nursery. 

“Sorry Sweetheart,” Merlin said as he looked over at his little elf still wearing fuzzy pajamas. “Papa was thinking about what you should wear today.” 

He noticed the young man give him a funny look as there was an unusual a pile of clothes on the rocking chair. A warm emerald sweater with a black dog on the front and a green turtleneck to wear underneath the pullover sat in that particular stack. However, it was the pair of jeans at the bottom with the snaps on the inseams which caused him to hesitate about getting the young man dressed. 

Then Merlin watched as Mordred walked over toward the changing table as well as going for the left drawer, the one holding the diapers. Seeing the boy pull one out before heading towards him, Merlin realized Mordred had made the choice to go with the rule without a fight or tears. The young man gave him a nervous look but none the less handed him the diaper with Elmo on the front. This showed him that his little elf was a bit worried about this new arrangement, yet trying to deal with the consequences of not having 15 stars. 

“Papa loves you, Honey.” Merlin said accepting the boy’s decision with a smile of encouragement. “This doesn’t modify that.” 

“Just adds cuteness?” Said Mordred who he helped climb the stairs to the changing table. 

“Did Daddy tell you that?” Said Merlin laughing as the boy sat down and nodded at him. “It seems like something he would say.” 

“Uh-huh.” Mordred said while he undid the zipper on the young man’s pajamas. “Told me, I be extra adorable.” 

“Well, we will just have to ask him about that later.” Said Merlin as he tickled Mordred’s exposed tummy. “All I know is that I see my charming little prince about to get ready for the day no matter what he’s dressed in.” 

“Can me wear my cloak?” Asked the young man who was giggling before lying down on the table as Merlin removed the fuzzy outfit to place into the laundry basket. 

“Yes but only in the house.” Said Merlin shaking his head for the boy did have a fixation when it came to the red cape. 

The object of the boy’s obsession hung over the rocking chair that he would have to make sure to grab with the pile of clothes. However, those clothing items would have to wait a few more minutes as he walked over the crib to take Stormy the dragon for the boy to cuddle with as well as the pacifier which had been on top of the dresser. Since he still needed to prepare himself as he changed the young man from one diaper to another knowing it was going to be the start of something new. 

 

Merlin took a sip of his coffee to test it before putting the milk back into the fridge. His bowl of oatmeal looked to be cool enough to eat as he sat down at the kitchen table with his little elf in the high chair next to him. The young man was happily munching on banana slices and he was going to see how far Mordred had gone down the rabbit hole so to speak. 

For Merlin had a bottle of apple juice in his other hand to see what the boy’s reaction was going to be. So he placed it down on the high chair’s tray and waited for Mordred to notice the difference in drink containers. Since Merlin knew a baby little would accept the bottle without hesitation but a toddler one might refuse it at this time of day. 

“You silly, Papa.” Said Mordred as the boy picked up the bottle. 

“Why is that?” Merlin asked as he smiled at Mordred while blowing on a spoonful of oatmeal. 

“Gave me a ba-ba” Said the young man showing him the container of apple juice. “Only use them for milk-milk.” 

“You don’t want to drink out of that?” Questioned Merlin as he acted like he was confused on what was wrong. 

“Want a sippy cup, please?” Asked Mordred as the boy pleaded with the puppy dog eyes. 

“Alright honey, papa will get it for you.” Merlin said after he swallowed a mouthful of his breakfast. 

“Otay.” Said the boy who grinned at him and happily going back to snack on the bananas slices. 

Merlin waited a few moments to see if the young man might have a change of mind before getting up to grab a sippy cup. The boy handed the bottle quickly over to him to confirm that Mordred was still in the toddler group, just wearing a different kind of padded undergarment. Not that it mattered to him what type his little elf was for Mordred in Merlin’s mind would always be his baby. 

 

Merlin stopped mid-sketch when he realized the drawing was not what had been asked by his sunglasses-making client. Instead, it appeared to be several types of meals which he had been thinking about making for dinner tonight. This led him to debate which was more important at the moment, as it appeared he couldn’t do two things at once right now. 

Since he had stopped working, Merlin glanced over at Mordred to see how the young man was doing. He could see the boy sitting with legs crossed, playing with several toy cars. It was an adorable sight to behold in his opinion. Especially with his little elf wearing the red cape spread out so the dragon could be shown as well as the cute engine noise being made by Mordred while the cars were being moved around. 

“How is it going, Honey?” Merlin asked as he noticed the boy’s left leg had stopped moving. “Can Papa check your diaper?” 

“Dry, Papa.” Said the young man taking out the binky the boy had been sucking on. 

“Thank for telling me” Said Merlin as he put away his pencils. “But you know that is not what I meant.” 

“Want to play” Said Mordred who was still moving cars around. 

“I can see that and you will after.” Merlin said while he started packing up his supplies. “However you need to come here so I can make sure.” 

“Not wet.” Said the boy scowling up at him as if he was the one not doing as told. 

“Mordred, do you remember the rule about diapers?” Said Merlin watching the boy continue to play and nodded at him. “Will you tell me?” 

“Let Daddy and Papa check when asked.” Mordred said while picking up a green toy car at the same time as looking over at him.

“So did I do just that?” Questioned Merlin in a serious tone to let the boy know he wasn’t fooling around. 

“Uh-huh, but it’s playtime Papa.” Said Mordred pouted at him as the young man put the car back down to resume the action of pretend. 

“And it can be cut short by a corner session if you like.” Said Merlin as he got up from the couch to snatch the box labeled ‘cars’. 

“No, that one has to be over there.” Said Mordred as he picked up a red car and placed it into the container. 

“Papa is going to start the countdown, sweetheart. One…” Said Merlin while he grabbed scattered toys with a warning to the boy that a timeout was about to occur if the rule wasn’t followed. “Two…” 

“Sorry Papa.” Said Mordred who got up and came over toward him before three could be spoken. 

“Wise choice.” Said Merlin grateful he hadn’t put the boy in jeans yet as it made it easier for him to evaluate the diaper. 

Finding that the boy had been telling the truth, Merlin felt he might have been a bit too harsh. Of course, Merlin knew he couldn’t have gone soft on this rule this time as it would work against Arthur and him later. For he figured this first check was going to be the toughest on his little elf as reality would hit on how things were going to be for the rest of the month. 

 

Merlin placed the container of cars into the toy box and pulled out a coloring book as well as crayons. He decided Mordred could stay busy while he looked around the pantry for items to get a clue on tonight’s meal. This way he’s have an idea if a trip to the grocery store was needed and if he had enough time to go before lunch. 

“Making cookies?” Questioned Mordred following him toward the kitchen instead of sitting down next to the coffee table where he had placed the scary monster book and coloring instruments. 

“Not at the moment but perhaps later.” Said Merlin figuring it could be his way of making up for being rude earlier. “But I’ve got to figure out what we are eating for dinner at the moment.” 

“Mac and cheese?” Mordred asked while giving him a pleading look. 

“I will have to see if we have the ingredient.” Said Merlin as he checked the cabinet for how much flour they had left.

“Me look.” Said Mordred opening the pantry door and he watched the young man vanish inside. 

“Do we have a box of twisted pasta?” Asked Merlin as he took stock of what was in the fridge. 

“Uh-uh, just this.” The boy said coming out of the pantry with a box of spaghetti in hand. “And no sauce.” 

“Well, I guess we’ll have to take a trip to the market.” Said Merlin deciding there wasn’t enough in the kitchen to make anything he could think of for dinner. 

“Me get elephants?” Asked Mordred as the boy gave him a sad face. 

“Yes, and Papa will even let you choose the box this time.” Said Merlin before he felt arms around him for Mordred was giving him a hug.

Merlin could only shake his head for he had forgotten that Mordred had a slight grudge against him over the last box of animal crackers. Apparently, there were no elephants inside the last container which he picked up and handed to the boy two Friday’s ago. Perhaps, this time, he would grab another box in case the first proved to not have Mordred’s favorites as well. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Mordred had a sense of wonder as he entered the grocery store with his Papa. For today marked the first time since he could remember where he could walk carefree inside a building without searching for the location of the restrooms. As that particular issue was no longer a problem he had to worry about. 

He even stopped to let Papa take off his hat, mittens, and jacket before they moved further into the labyrinth. This usually didn’t happen as Mordred had been more interested in heading to the bathroom right away in the past. Since he feared there would be a need to go pee when the cart had too many items to leave alone and they were miles deep within the aisles. 

Of course, he knew a pull-up would have been able to handle things if an accident did occur. However, in his mind, it was better to be safe than sorry in a store of any kind when he wore that kind of padding. Especially with the way his daddies liked to go from the front to the back of a building which always made him bug them whenever entering a store as the restroom where usually located there. 

Now Mordred had no need for such a derailment on his exploring of the products on each shelf. His main concern at the moment instead turned out to be if it was lane 7 or 9 that housed the animal crackers. For Mordred wanted to get his box before they walked around to all the boring sections like when Papa picked up and checked every tomato in the container to find a perfect one or two. 

Plus Papa seemed to be in a rush to get the shopping done and he didn’t want yummy treats to be left here instead of in his belly. As there was a slight rumble in his tummy which he knew his papa had heard since the dark haired man was grinning at him while they turned down an aisle. Seeing what he had been hoping for, Mordred quickly moved toward the rows of crackers until he found a box calling his name. 

“Open please?” Mordred asked turning toward Papa to hand over the container. 

“Will you share with Papa, Honey?” Said Merlin as his papa took the box from him. 

“Uh-huh.” Said Mordred smiling at his papa with the cutest eyes he could muster. “But no eat any elephants.” 

“I would never do that.” Said Papa as the dark haired man opened the animal crackers and grabbing what looked like a tiger to him. 

“Elephant!” Mordred said while he pulled out his favorite as he took the box for his papa. 

It appeared that luck was on his side as he munched on the yummy tasting treat. For there would be several of the animals he liked the best and Mordred noticed Papa putting another box as they walked toward another part of the building. Perhaps it was a good thing to go to the grocery store when they were both hungry as it meant more delicious food added to the cart than the standard amount. 

 

Mordred looked from one package of breakfast cereal to the next before thinking about the third colorful box that caught his eye a few rows down earlier. In his opinion, there were too many varieties in front of him to decide. He still found making choices difficult and this option of picking the cereal that tickled his fancy seemed daunting. Perhaps if Papa had narrowed down the selection it would make things easier for him. 

So he looked over at his papa standing a bit away from him with the shopping cart. It seemed to him that Merlin was patiently waiting for him to grab a box by staying occupied with the dark haired man’s cell phone. If only Mordred could remember what his daddies liked the most in case he picked a kind which his taste buds didn’t like, perhaps marshmallows outweigh chocolate or was it the other way around. 

“Smith-wood?” He heard from the other side of the aisle. “Mordred Smith-wood?” 

Mordred spun around from the bright boxes of crunchy breakfast food to see someone heading towards his location. The caused the binky in his mouth to fall out since he hadn’t seen this familiar face in months. As the person moving closer to him appeared to be his former roommate who was wearing overalls with a pacifier strap attached and a opened colorful jacket. 

“Hey man, looking good.” Said Tristan as the dude went for an embrace. 

Of course, Mordred followed suit by taking his ex-roommates hand to start the secret handshake which was always concealed from outsiders by a hug. It had been a sort of brotherhood ritual formed back in the days when the group of loners had been six instead of two. In addition, there was the knock they created to inform each other when the other wanted to enter the apartment or room.

Looking into Tristan’s eyes, Mordred knew the guy wasn’t in little mode at the moment just like him. It was possible that Tristan had aged up so to speak while walking over toward his location similar to how it had happened to him. For just trying to remember the way his hand needed to move before his old roommate got closer caused his brain to switch. It had been a sort of surprised as he still had trouble some days with going from green to red card mode quickly.

“See you found a daddy.” Said Tristan as they moved apart from each other and he noticed the dude looking at Merlin.

“That’s Merlin and um…my papa.” Said Mordred smiling at getting to say that special name to someone who was an old acquaintance even if it was a bit difficult to come out of his mouth which he hoped Tristan would understand why. “But I have an um… daddy too.”

“I got parents myself. My mommies are over there” Tristan said grinning at him while pointing towards two ladies at the end of the aisle. “And the best part, I got a real last name.”

“Me too.” Said Mordred remembering the box he had checked with the optional change of name on his consent form that he signed months ago. “It’s Pendragon now.”

He felt the pride bubbling up at saying those words to his former roommate. For years, he lived with a fake last name, given to him by the lady running the orphanage which took in his drop off soul at a fire station. Plus unlike his first name that had meaning behind it and had been bestowed to Mordred by the man who found him alone on a cold night, his last had been made up. 

Smith-wood was a mash-up of the two streets in which he had been found upon. This made him different from the other kids. As many didn’t have a hyphenated last name and envied him which led to making friends difficult. In addition, Mordred always had a sense that the words were just empty as there had been no ties to them. This explained why he felt affection as well as loved when saying Pendragon as he had his daddies and the other branches on the tree like Morgana when the name came to be his too. 

 

Mordred wondered if parents only got together just to have a discussion on their littles most embarrassing moments. Since Tristan’s mommies and his Papa seemed to have plenty of them to go around. Not wanting to hear the story again about the time he ate a wax apple that looked far too realistic in his option, he turned to Tristan hoping his former roommate would be able to distract him. 

His old roommate had been chatting to him about a video game while showing how it worked via a cell phone. It hadn’t been something he particularly felt an interest in but Mordred watched nonetheless. However, Tristan had stopped speaking as well as tapping on the phone’s screen. This caused him to look into his former roommate’s eyes while figuring out what was going on with Tristan. Of course, he blushed at the realization, had looked over at his Papa, and tried to give the Tristan privacy so to speak. 

“Man, gotta love being able to do that whenever. If you know what I’m saying” Said Tristan who gaze he saw headed toward his groin area. “And it seems like you do.” 

“Uh-huh.” Said Mordred who could feel his face getting redder than it had already been. “Just started.” 

“Hey, nothing wrong with it Dude.” Tristan said giving him a smile and pat on the shoulder. “But um, what brand are you wearing? The type I have on are really bulky.” 

“Big Bird.” Said Mordred a bit confused as he didn’t realize there were different brands since everyone in the group that wore diapers had Sesames Street characters ones. 

“Oh, those are the kind specially made for littles. Mine are the adult brand.” Said Tristan to him before his former roommate turned slightly toward the grownups. “Maybe I should tell Mommy that. She doesn’t like these on me.” 

Mordred nodded his head while glancing in the direction of the woman who had introduced herself to Papa and him as Isoete as well as Tristan’s mommy. Giving her a closer look, Mordred realized that she was the lady that he assumed had been his old roommate’s girlfriend. For she had been the one over at their apartment that he saw the most the past few months after he came home from work and before the lease had ended. 

However, when he moved his gaze to Tristan’s mama, Nimueh, Mordred realized both grown-ups had been to their old place and spent time with his former roommate. He had only seen her, a hand full of time which caused his mind to only register her as a friend. However, if he remembered correctly Nimueh had been the person who helped him with getting his job at the dinner. Since her directions were the ones he had been followed over a year ago in October. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Arthur left the conference room thinking that he might just make it this time to his office as the customer happened to be heading to the elevator. Since he wanted to know how the day with his husband went and his annoying phone sat on his desk. The evil thing that he cursed at on his way into work decided to run an app last night that drained his battery to ten percent by the morning. 

He bugged just about everyone on the floor 16 for a charger compatible to his dead paperweight on arrival to the office earlier. Luckily for him, Mithian had the same type of phone and always carried a spare cable that attached to an electronic device in her purse. This caused him to leave the object hooked up to his laptop when a client had asked for a quick consultation. 

Since it was the last month of the year as well as the busiest shopping season, many customers came begging for help to have their latest-to-market-item-on-the-shelves become a hit with buyers. Therefore more than a few clients came in without warning and no appointment for help. Knowing if he didn’t give up his free moment to lend a hand, the customers might find another agency to work with.

Something Arthur figured would make his father very anger with him and he really wanted his Christmas bonus this year. As there were presents for his little knight that he hoped to buy with that extra money. Especially the tricycle which his husband and he knew the boy had been looking at for quite some time now.

Naturally, one quick meeting lead to several as it seemed the start of the month had people in frenzy mode. This forced him to be stuck inside the conference room with no way to communicate with his husband. Of course, Arthur realized as he walked by an employee’s desk that if there had been any major trouble at the Pendragon homestead, he would have been paged to answer a call on his office phone. 

Plus Arthur decided if the volcano had erupted, his husband would have found a way to reach him no matter what. Not that he thought Mordred was going to be extremely difficult to deal with today. However, the boy’s scream in his opinion seemed to be magically enhanced somehow and had an unearthly high-pitched to it, something that didn’t leave a person unaffected. 

So Arthur believed his two favorite people in the world must be doing just fine if there were no alarms going off. This made Arthur feel a bit better for not having his phone on him as he walked toward Mithian. He could see the girl standing in front of her desk while smiling politely at him with what appeared to be his warm jacket. Only for a moment did Arthur give her a confused look until he rounded the corner of a cubicle and noticed his father beside her chatting about canceling his afternoon appointment. 

“Arthur, I’m so glad to see you taking some initiative with our clients.” Said Uther who smirked at him as well as glancing over at the customer getting into the elevator. 

“Thank you, Father.” Said Arthur wondering what got his old man into such a good mood. “May I ask what this is about?” 

“You remember Aulfric and his daughter Sophia.” Said his father as Mithian handed over his jacket to him. “They stopped by this morning to thank me for the wonderful design Merlin did for their new brand logo and offered to buy lunch for it.” 

“Yes, they own a beverage company in the south.” Said Arthur as he placed on his coat and felt the pocket for his car keys but found his cell phone instead. “I take it that’s why you are waiting for me.” 

“Can’t a father see how his son is doing?” Asked Uther as they were heading toward the elevator as Arthur figured driving wasn’t going to be an option and a driver would be taking them to the overpriced small-portion restaurant. “Plus I didn’t want you to miss out on a wonderful meal.” 

“My homemade lunch would have been just as good.” Said Arthur annoyed with his old man’s reference to his choice of eating in the cafeteria most days. “Should I call Merlin?” 

“No, I had your secretary check with him.” Said his father as they entered the elevator and pressed the first-floor button. “He had plans already but please tell him I owe him a meal the next time he’s at work.” 

“I will.” Said Arthur who pulled out his phone to pretend he was writing a reminder as he knew this would give him a second to check his phone. 

Since Uther was not a fan of having people staring at their mobile devices while speaking to them. Therefore it was unlikely that he would get more than a moment to see the messages and photos his husband had sent to him while he had been away from it. For it was more important to use his only chance to reply back with a quick note about not purposely ignoring Merlin. 

 

Arthur had never been happier to be sitting at his desk in his office, as he finally got the opportunity to view his phone. The lunch with his father had been the longest hour of his life and he wanted to figure out who the person in the photo with Mordred that Merlin had send to him. For there had been only a few messages to review, it was the photos that had peaked his interest. 

Of course, Arthur had just started reading his husband’s texts from earlier in the day when he heard a knock on his door. Praying his dark haired lover would forgive him later for not being caught up on the events of today’s adventure with Merlin and his little knight, he got up to see who needed him now. Since it looked like he was never going to get the time alone to check in as it just seemed to be one of those kinds of days. 

“Do you have a minute to talk?” Asked Morgana as she walked into the room and waited for him to close the door before walking toward his desk. 

“What can I do for you?” Questioned Arthur wondering what his sister needed. 

“We have twenty-four days until Christmas and I needed to know what to get Mordred.” Said Morgana sitting in his chair instead of the ones used by the guest. 

“You should know that he would love anything you get him.” Said Arthur rolled his eyes at the melodrama that was his sister. 

“Come on Arthur, this is his first Christmas with us and it should be spectacular.” Said Morgana while huffing at him and crossing her arms. “Leon and I could get him a big stuffed teddy bear to cuddle with or perhaps a large bar of chocolate.” 

“Isn’t it bad enough that I have to deal with your little self over at my house and being woken up at the crack of dawn?” Arthur said as he sat down in the chair that his husband often sat in when working on the job. “He needs some new crayons and coloring book if that helps you.” 

“That sounds like a boring gift.” Said Morgana who he watched move toward his keyboard to type something into the computer. “Maybe I should have asked Merlin instead.” 

“He’s not going to say anything different than what I’ve already told you.” Arthur said shaking his head before he got up to see what she was searching for. 

While looking over his sister’s shoulder, Arthur gave his opinion on what she had up on the screen. Of course, Arthur knew she might not listen to a word coming out of his mouth. He only wanted to know what she had in mind to get his little knight and to warn his husband of how spoiled Mordred was going to be this year. For other members of the group had been bugging them on what to get the young man as well. 

 

Arthur sighed in relief of finally being home as he closed the door. With the frustrating day of not being able to communicate with Merlin, it had been no surprise to him to get stuck in the worst traffic jam in history. Of course, Arthur cursed at the small snow scrawl that caused the chaos of rush hour to stall into a parking lot because of several car accidents across his journey. 

Luckily for him, it was still early enough for Mordred to come running toward him. Just seeing the huge smile on the young man’s face made his whole horrible day just melt away. The hugs and kisses which he received from the boy were just an added bonus in his mind. 

Seeing his husband coming over to join in the love fest, Arthur knew a conversation would be had once their little went to bed. As he had gotten a chance to read those text messages from Merlin while sitting in his car before he left work about Mordred’s former roommate and parents. Since he had been wondering on his long drive about why the encounter with Tristan was considered a good thing by his husband. 

However being here, Arthur could observe what Merlin meant as Mordred appeared to be more comfortable with wearing diapers than he had ever seen the boy previously. Perhaps Tristan had shown the young man how existence as a little in diapers wasn’t as difficult as it might previously have seemed. For accepted of their lifestyle had come from a person whom had been in the boy’s life before becoming their little.


	25. Have a Happy Yuletide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's that special time of year! The little are behaving as well as they can in hopes that St. Nick will reward them with what they asked for. How will Mordred's first Christmas with Merlin and Arthur go?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Everyone,
> 
> I hope you are all doing well. So things were going great time wise with this chapter until my computer decided to die on me. Luckily, I have this story on google documents so it didn't get lost completely. A few parts of this chapter were gone which meant reworking it in my head to get things back which took up time as well as get a new computer and word program so I could resume writing. Therefore I am so thankful to all of you for being so patient with me. Hope you enjoy this chapter.
> 
> P.S. Littlewebby is awesome and edited this chapter super fast to get it on here. So don't forget to thank her!

December 24th

Arthur watched as the lights on the decorated tree in the corner of the living room changed from white to multi-color. He took in the serene moment while listening to Merlin putter around in the kitchen, most likely finishing on some last-minute preparations for tomorrow. For he was patient as one could be when toys had to be put together before dawn. He was waiting for Leon to come downstairs from putting Morgana to bed for the night in the guest room.

Of course, that task might prove to take longer than he anticipated as his sister never did seem to enter dreamland easy on this particular night. Many of times in the past, she had been determined on staying up and waiting to catch Santa in the act. This wouldn’t have been a problem if they were at her house as the garage concealed all the presents and had plenty of space for working on any projects.

Here however, there had been limited space to keep hidden gifts from being seen from little eyes. Just last night Merlin and he had moved all the special wrapped items to the office area as they had been storing everything in the one place Mordred never would stepped into alone, the guest room. Even now the presents were still locked up as they didn’t want Morgana coming down the stairs while they acted like Santa’s elves.

Feeling antsy but knowing going upstairs to see how things were going might make matters worse, Arthur got up and walked over to the fireplace. There he smiled as he took in the sight of the picture in front of him. It was of Mordred and a man with a white beard in a red suit grinning at him, a memento of the day his little knight had visited Santa Claus.

Oh, how sweet that trip to the mall had been as he remembered the boy skipping toward the section with the big chair to meet St. Nick. The young man chatted with Merlin and him about what to get their friends for the holidays while waiting in line. Like a set of toy cars for Gwaine who enjoyed playing with Mordred’s but didn’t have any.

Then it was like magic had hit the boy, Mordred went mute when walking up to meet with Santa. Fortunately for them, the gentleman sitting in the fancy chair had been polite and talked to the young man softly with questions that could be answered with an easy yes or no. It appeared to Arthur that the man had been doing the job for a long time to be so thoughtful.

When it came to what Mordred wanted for Christmas, Mordred pointed to the binky attached to the boy's shirt by a green strap. It almost caused Arthur and his husband to laugh which would have given away the fact that they were eavesdropping on the conversation. For only Mordred, would ask for something so simple yet needed as the ones the boy had were a bit beat up even with Merlin secretly replacing them every so often.

After the picture was taken, and it was a rather good picture if anyone asked him, did Mordred speak to St. Nick. It was more of a murmur in the white bearded man’s ear but it showed that the gentleman had won Mordred’s approval of words. In addition, it seemed Santa had taken a liking to his little knight as the man in red returned the gesture by whispering the reply to the boy’s question before they left to wait for the photo to print out.

It had been a mystery to his husband and him, on what the quick conversation had been about which they tried to figure out for days. However, Arthur would get the answer when Mordred asked for a stamp to send St. Nick a thank you card. For there on the envelope in the boy’s hand, written neatly was an address of 123 Candy Cane Drive in Christmas Village, North Pole.

 

Arthur grumbled before looking at the directions next to him on the carpet for what had to be the tenth time in only a few minutes. Since the toy he was trying to put together did not appear as it did on the box in front of him. If only Leon had been able to wiggle away from Morgana, he wouldn’t have to sitting alone, annoyed with figuring out how part A connected with B.

Unfortunately for him, his right-hand man when it came to constructing Christmas presents at midnight hadn’t been able to get his sister to sleep and needed to keep her from snooping in the living room instead. For Arthur knew Morgana would try to find a way to get down stairs even if it was just a ruse. He was thankful to technology which kept that from happening as Leon could text him to get something like a glass of milk or Morgana’s doll that had somehow been left on the sofa.

Another thing keeping Arthur’s mood from getting worse as he realized the diagram was upside-down, happened to be the soft breathing coming from the baby monitor on the coffee table. How grateful he was for the fact that Mordred hadn’t fought them to go to bed tonight. This led him to realize that his husband’s idea of the young man not taking an afternoon nap did help with make sure Mordred had a restful night.

Since their little one started yawning during the animated cartoon of the red nosed reindeer after dinner and barely could keep eyes opened during the telling of “Twas the Night before Christmas” by Merlin. Then the music from the _Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky_ had helped lure Mordred to dreamland as his husband and he crept quietly into the hall. They only heard a quick murmur of 'not to forget to put out the milk for Santa' on the monitor before the pull of sleep took over the young man.

Realizing that he hadn’t done as requested by his little knight, Arthur got up to check to see if a cup had been set out for the man in red. Luckily for him, Merlin had already taken care of all the details for St. Nick as there was a special mug made by Mordred with Santa written on it next to the plate of cookies. He even found a written note by his little prince explaining the three different kinds of cookies which had been placed careful by the young man earlier as well as a thank you for coming.

“Arthur?” He heard which jolted him into turning around quickly to find his sister’s husband standing in the doorway instead of the person he had imaged, Morgana.

“Well, it’s about time Leon.” Said Arthur huffing as he walked toward the curly haired man and then over to the mess in the living room. “That horse draw carriage for Morgana’s fancy doll is a pain to put together.”

“Sorry, she just fell asleep a couple of minutes ago.” His brother-in-law said who looked around before following him toward the discarded pieces on the floor. “Where is Merlin? I thought he would be helping you?”

“Are you kidding me?” Asked Arthur as he sat back down onto the carpet with the directions facing the correct way and gave Leon a frustrated look. “I sent him to bed an hour ago. You know he’s bad at listening to my instructions.”

“I think he did a great job that one year with Morgana’s play kitchen set.” Said Leon grabbed another box to start a different project.

“Only after I fixed it.” Said Arthur rolling his eyes at the curly haired man for that toy had been by far the easiest one to set up with the color coordinated diagram instructions it came with. “Beside he has to make dinner tomorrow, I would feel awful keeping him up all night with that task at hand.”

“I completely understand.” Said Leon who was trying to get into the hard plastic container which a toy was enclosed in. “Don’t want Merlin falling asleep and burning everything.”

“No, there is more to it than what you think.” Said Arthur as he got part A to finally click into part B. “Have you seen the knife used to cut the roast and the fact that Merlin is clumsy on the best of days.”

“Thanks for those gruesome images.” Leon said while undoing a piece taped and twist-tied onto a paper board. “Now I know I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.”

“Well, perhaps that a good thing.” Said Arthur feeling like he was finally getting somewhere with his project. “Since this toy stuff is going to keep us up for hours.”

“Don’t be blaming my princess on these.” Leon said who pointed to a small pile of accessories for his sister’s dolls. “Your husband and little picked out her presents.”

Arthur just shook his head and went back to finishing the horse draw stagecoach for he knew his brother-in-law wasn’t lying. If only Mordred hadn’t seen the doll magazine that Morgana had been hiding in her room during a play date with circled items. Then perhaps he wouldn’t have to stay up so late on Christmas Eve. Especially with him knowing that his little knight was going to be up at the crack of dawn.

 

December 25th

White snow softly falling around him as Arthur walked towards his two-favorite people in the world. His family had been waiting for him at the park after a morning at work and he was trying to reach them. That was until Arthur felt something hit his leg which caused him to stop moving as nothing appeared to be in his way. While standing in place, he noticed the pain in his femur again as well as the road trembling before Arthur heard his name being called out.

“Daddy, Papa, wake up.” He heard his little which broke him out of his slumber. “It’s Christmas.”

Arthur turned while opening his groggily eyes to taking in the sight around him as he had been on his side. There he found his sister and Mordred jumping on the master bed which explained the shaking he had felt while asleep. In addition, the young man seemed to be not quite as coordinated as Morgana which led Mordred’s left foot to hit his leg every so often.

Luckily for him and his poor femur, Arthur watched as Mordred stopped hopping around once eye contact had been made. The boy looked to him to be a bit remorseful but still excited while coming over to him as he sat up. He waited until the young man cuddle up to him before tugging on Morgana’s hand gently in ordered to get her to cease her leaping.

For he could tell that Merlin was awake but not moving about, in case it might cause a little to tumble off the bed. Seeing his sister flop onto the end of bed with a smirk on her face, Arthur could only shake his head at her antics. Especially at his brother-in-law who he noticed was standing in the doorway trying not to break into a grin.

“Morning Daddy.” Mordred said and placed a sloppy smooch on his cheek as if to apologize for the rude disturbance from dreamland.

“Good morning, Love.” Said Arthur before he gave the boy a kiss on the forehead and looked over at his husband who winked at him. “You better go give one of those to Papa.”

“Otay.” Said the young man quickly leaving his side to do as told. “Morning Papa.”

Arthur observed Merlin as he knew what was about to happen. For his husband had arms out as if to give Mordred a hug before launching into a tickle attacked. This made Arthur laugh as he heard the giggling come from his little knight who asked for him help. However, this was payback in a way for the early morning wake-up call and only gave him reason to join in as well.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Merlin could see the excitement in Mordred’s eyes as he finished tapping a fresh diaper onto the young man. The eagerness to get downstairs was the reason he had asked his husband to be in the room and act normal by making the bed which he would redo later. For just like he predicted, Mordred leaped off the changing table the moment he walked away to grab a new pair of pajamas and socks for the boy to wear.

He watched as Arthur snatched the young man before Mordred had a chance to get out of the room. This caused a squirming young man in his husband arms to give him a confused look. For it had been common now for his little elf to be in the house with only a diaper on. Most days, the boy had a shirt and sweater on as well as the red dragon cape. However, today’s excitement seemed to throw that out the window. A far cry from months ago when the young man wouldn’t even leave the room without making sure the pull-up underneath sweatpants could not be seen.

Of course, this was for his own selfish reason that clothing need to be put on the young man. For the Christmas pajamas sitting on the rocking chair looked quite similar to a Santa’s suit which he wanted the boy to be wearing when handing out presents. Plus, there was the fact that they had family and he didn’t want Leon or Morgana to feel uncomfortable. For Merlin knew his sister-in-law did not particularly like seeing other little running around in the so-called nude.

Luckily the frown on the young man’s face caused by having to wait to be dressed was quickly dismissed by his husband. Since Arthur would start blowing raspberries on the boy’s belly to get a smile before giggles occurred. This episode was just long enough to keep Mordred distracted for him to get feet and arms into the red colored footless sleeper.

“Can we go downstairs now?” Asked Morgana coming in the nursery as he finished zipping up the boy’s pajamas. “Oh, you look so cute, Momo.”

“Princess, what did I tell you?” Said Leon from the doorway before the curly man entered the room to come near her, most likely to escort Morgana out of the room if need be in Merlin’s mind.

“I’m sorry but waiting in the hallway got boring.” Morgana said as she twisted her long hair while smiling sweetly at all of them. “I just want to see what was taking so long.”

“Well, we’re almost ready.” Said Merlin with fuzzy stocking styled like candy canes as well as Mordred’s dog slippers in hand.

“No socks please, Papa.” Mordred said giving him sad eyes and a little pouty face. “Me want to see if Santa came.”

“Okay, Sweetheart.” Said Merlin realizing the patience of two littles was growing thin as he placed slippers on the boy’s feet. “Papa will keep them with him if you want them later.”

“Now that is all settled, I say it’s off to the living room.” Said his husband who Merlin could tell was just as animated as his little elf as the two started walking away holding hands.

“And then to the kitchen, Daddy?” He heard Mordred ask Arthur as he followed the energetic duo.

“What for?” Asked Arthur who looked confused and turned back at him for a clue.

“Make sure Santa ate his cookies, silly.” Said Merlin as he took his little elf’s other hand and head down the stairs.

At the moment of entering the living room, Merlin felt grateful for technology. He was even thankful to Arthur for making sure his phone had been fully charged. Since Merlin got some amazing photos of Mordred with a look of wonder at all the presents under the tree. Plus, he got to see the pure joy on Mordred’s face when the boy read the reply back from Santa whose handwriting looked to him very similar to Leon.

 

Merlin couldn’t help but smile widely as Mordred handed him a gift before the boy moved on to Arthur. Then he watched as the young man moved back to the wrapped objects to find a tag with Morgana and Leon as the recipient. For it was traditional for the youngest in the group to pass out the presents something that he had to do for years prior.

Of course, there was a method to the madness for his little elf got to open the first gift once everyone had one in their hands. This turned out to be quite comical as the young man careful un-wrapped the package where the tape was at. Luckily for everyone, Morgana’s patience got the best of her and she helped Mordred by ripping the snowfall covered paper.

“Binkies” Said his little elf excitedly seeing the container of action figure pacifiers.

“Was that from Santa?” Asked his husband who he could see was grinning. “He got you what you asked, didn’t he?”

“Uh-huh.” Said Mordred as the young man opened the package and grabbed one.

“Don’t put that in your mouth, buddy.” Said Arthur as his husband started to move from the couch where the blond man had been sitting to keep the young man for sucking on the pacifier.

“It’s fine, dear.” Said Merlin before Arthur could take the binky from the boy’s and ruin the spirit of Christmas for everyone. “St. Nick knew to sanitize those first.”

“Maybe he should have told us just for safety” Said Arthur giving him a rude look as well as returning to the couch.

“Perhaps Arthur, if you thought about one of the songs with Santa.” Leon said who if Merlin heard correctly was humming a familiar Christmas tune. “Then you would have remembered that he sees all.”

Merlin laughed lightly as his grumbling husband while he typed in his phone to start a note about the presents that were being opened. Since he wanted to write down whom the gifts were from, in order for him to make thank you cards later. A feat that Merlin figured he only had a second to do so as he was the next in line to open gifts and he could already feel the eyes of an impatient lady on him.

 

Merlin figured everything was going great with the opening of the presents so far. Since not a single tear fell from either one of the littles yet and there had been several rounds of gifts unwrap. Of course, there was a minor hiccup to the grand scheme of things in his eyes. For his little elf wanted to play with every gift that the young man opened which caused a slight delay.

Like at this very moment were the boy was using a pretend doctor’s stethoscope on his husband. He knew his Uncle Gaius and Aunt Alice would be happy to see that Mordred loved their gift of the toy doctor’s kit. Therefore, Merlin grabbed his phone to take a quick photo of the action going on. Plus, he wanted one picture with those wide smiles that appeared on Arthur and the young man’s face.

Then for some strange reason after he put down the phone, his baby ran off to Leon to whisper into the curly man’s hair. This caused him and his husband to share a confused look as they both seemed to have no clue on what was going on as he saw Leon and Mordred speaking softly. Of course, that was until he watched his little elf walk over toward two presents wrap in snowflake paper and pick up each one cautiously.

“Gifts from me.” Said Mordred as the little came over toward his husband and him with similar items.

“I wrapped them for him.” Said Leon as it seemed the curly haired man had sensed Arthur and his lost expression.

“More like Daddy assisted Mordred with your presents.” Said Morgana as she came up behind Mordred with a smile for it appeared she knew what the gift was as well. “I helped Momo too.”

“We thank you both for that.” Said Arthur as his husband quickly ripped the pretty snowflake paper.

“Wow, this is amazing.” Merlin said after he carefully opened the paper by the tape area to find a beautiful present in front of him.

For in his hands was a scrapbook, one that showed pictures and dates going back from the very beginning of their journey to about six months into their adventure. He turned to his husband to find that Arthur had the second volume so to speak, filled with photos after six months to now and with blank pages to be filed down the road. Such a magnificent present in his mind, a way to always view the wonderful world in which had become his life since Mordred had entered it.

 

Merlin placed the apron he had been wearing on a hook while he headed toward the living room with a cup of coffee in his right hand. The other hand held a timer for the frittata he had made that needed to bake for 16 to 18 minutes. This gave him an opportunity to play with Mordred who had been animated about trying out the elaborate train set on a fancy play table given to the young man by Leon and his sister-in-law.

However, he noticed his little prince had fallen asleep on the floor near the pile of the boy’s Christmas gifts. With his husband and Leon in the kitchen getting their caffeine as well, it was understandable that none of them noticed that Mordred was getting sleepy after opening presents were done. So, Merlin placed his mug and the timer on the coffee table to grab the blue blanket lying on top of the sofa to place over his little elf.

A smile appeared on his face as he saw what the young man happened to be cuddling while dozing. For it was a stuffed snow owl that Gwen and Lance had gifted his little elf with which Mordred had decided to name Snowy. Even with having two fuzzy animals already upstairs in the crib, his little elf had been over joy with the addition of another.

“Sorry, Uncle Mer.” He heard Morgana say as she was coming over toward him from the direction of the hallway. “I was going to get you or Uncle Art.”

“It’s okay, sunshine.” Said Merlin as he figured she had taken a trip to the bathroom. “I should have realized how tired Mordred was, he usually gets a small nap around this time in the morning.”

“Hey, what happened to my little knight?” Asked his husband as Arthur entered the room with Leon. “He kept bugging me before I went to grab a coffee, to let him take that trike he cried in delight about for a ride.”

“It must have been the early wake up call.” Leon said who gave them an apologetic face. “I told Morgana not to go into the nursery after she got me out of bed.”

“Momo was already awake when I went in there.” Said Morgana before rolling her eyes at the three of them and walked away to her pile of toys.

“Don’t fret about it, Leon.” Merlin said as he grabbed his cup of coffee while walking to the couch. “I might just have found another cute photo to add to the scrapbook volume II."

“But what about those other presents under the tree?” Said Leon as the curly haired man followed him. “Weren’t you going to open those after a break or something?”

“Oh no those are for another day.” Said his husband as Arthur joined Leon and him on the couch.

Merlin looked over at the three presents that Leon had been referring to, the ones pushed close to the decorated tree. For those items were gifts that they were to give to Mordred when the young man happened to be in red card mood. Since a book series on dragons, a new hooded sweater, and set of art pencils for school didn’t seem to be objects his little elf would be interested in.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Mordred felt a sense of awe as he stared at the pile of presents that had been given to him by his family and friends. He was still in a bit of shock over how much he had received and might have pinched himself a few times to check to see if he had been dreaming or not. Knowing all of the wonderful gifts were really his, it only made him realized how truly blessed he was with the amazing people in his life.

There happened to be only one present which had Mordred scratching his head at. For Aunt Morgause and Cousin Cenred had gotten him a nice expensive looking green dog bed. He had seen the puzzled look on his daddies’ faces earlier in the day by the object when he opened the dogs wearing Santa hat wrapping paper. So, he knew that they were just as confused about the gift as he was.

Of course, Morgana had suggested the item could be used for Shadow but Mordred didn’t think that was the case. Since his stuffed dog always slept with him and he knew that arrangement wasn’t about to change any time soon. Even with him getting Snowy the owl, his arms could hold three animals perfectly fine. Therefore, Mordred decided that there was a reason for the present, a need for the dog bed sometime in the future. This made him hope just a tiny bit that a Scottie puppy might just be the thing.

With that mystery solved inside his mind, Mordred moved on to what he should do next. As there were several items for him to choose from and many he had yet to take out of the packaging. Since it had gotten too time consuming to play with everything after he opening his presents and grumpily tummies caused others to become quite cranky.

He careful pulled out his gift from Percy and Gwaine which made him smile. It seemed his best friend knew him too well and had gotten Mordred a ring tower toy. The present was similar to the one at Lance’s house that he really enjoyed playing with. A bit of a secret as Mordred had never told his parents that he liked the toy enough to have his very own.

“Hey buddy, can I play with you.” Said Daddy who he noticed was walking toward him from the kitchen. “I’ve been banned after trying to assist Morgana with the crescent rolls.”

“Papa need me?” Asked Mordred suddenly worried that he should be helping out instead of playing.

“I don’t think so, Love.” Said Daddy as Arthur joined him on the carpet rug with a reassuring smile. “But you can go ask him if you want.”

Mordred looked at his daddy who he noticed seemed quite tired if the yawning was anything to go by. He wondered if maybe the blond-haired man needed to take a nap and if he went to help Papa, then it might just happen. However, Mordred could tell that Daddy seemed eager to be with just him as it had been kind of hard these past few days to be with his parent as Morgana liked to jump into their conversation or activities. So, he handed off the red ring to his daddy and was rewarded with a bright smile in return.

 

December 26th

Mordred smirked to himself while he headed down the stairs toward the living room. His plan to make breakfast for Merlin and Arthur in a roundabout way to thank them for the magnificent event of yesterday was going according to his plan. Even if he had been a bit naughty by undoing the latches of his crib this morning which he figured they would forgive him for, especially since his mood was red instead of green.

A debate inside his head on whether to make waffles or pancakes came to abrupt end when Mordred heard noises coming from the kitchen. This was when he figured Leon and Morgana were still over and must had spent the night in the guest room again. Something Mordred hadn’t realized, for he had gone to bed last night right after bath time without any goodnight expect to his daddies as he was too tired from all the excitement of the day.

The female voice that Mordred heard while he crept to the doorway confirmed his suspicion. This caused a slight panic to take hold of him as he felt the slip to yellow starting to occur. For he could tell by her speech that Morgana was not big right now like him but little and it was pushing him down which he didn’t want to happen.

Therefore, Mordred moved toward the couch as he grabbed the hood attached to his sweater to place over his ears to blocking out the sounds. He thought about the presents hidden in the closet that he wanted to give his parents while humming _Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen_. For he knew his little side would retreat with a non-classical piece of music playing inside his head.

“Mordred?” He heard when he reached the opera part of the song causing Mordred to look up from his bend position on the couch to find Leon standing above him.

“Um…hi.” Said Mordred sitting up and giving the curly-haired man a nervous smile.

“Morgana and I heard the shower earlier but we assumed it was Merlin or Arthur.” Said Leon who looked at him a bit confused. ““Is everything okay?”

Mordred realized at that moment about the fact of him never being adult mood with anyone else in the group beside his parents. This explained to him why Leon seemed so worried and most likely wondering what was going on with the hoody and ripped jeans. So, he opened the drawer to the coffee table to retrieve a red card.

“I’m um…big right now.” said Mordred while he placed the wooden object over the green one on the table not knowing if Leon had been told about what the meaning of the colored items. “My safe word is um…gingersnaps if that helps.”

“I sort of figured but thank you for telling me.” Said Leon who sat down next to him on the couch. “Your parents do tend to talk a great deal about you. So, I knew about the signature outfit you wear when in Adult mode.”

“Oh.” Said Mordred blushing as he felt a bit foolish for not thinking about how Merlin and Arthur made sure important information was told to other caretakers in the group.

“But something else seems to be the matter.” Said Leon giving him a concerned face. “I might be able to help.”

Mordred frowned at the curly-haired man before staring at the blank television screen in front of him. He was conflicted on if it would be okay to tell Leon what was going on inside his mind. Since he usually wasn’t so open with other people except his parents in red mood. Just as he made his decision to speak up, did he hear movement in the other room.

“Daddy, are we making French toast or not?” Asked Morgana who he watched coming into the living room still wearing her princess pajamas and gave them an impatient look.

“I’m talking to Mordred right now, Princess.” Said Leon who he could see smiling kindly at her. “Just return to the kitchen for me please and I will be right there, okay.”

“Alright but you have to hurry. Uncle Art and Mer are going to wake up soon.” Said Morgana while she gave him a tilted head with a hint of confusion before turning around to march back to the other room.

“I’m sorry.” Said Mordred feeling awkward for keeping Leon here with him when the curly-haired man should be Morgana. “I’ll be okay if you want to join her.”

“Morgana is fine, she would have let me know if she wasn’t.” Said Leon in a serious tone which told him that the man wasn’t going anywhere without him opening up. “However you are not. So, please tell me what is wrong?”

“I’m trying to stay big.” Said Mordred as he looked down at his fluffy dog slippers before realizing that was a bad idea and gazed at the coffee table instead. “But I should be little for Morgana.”

“So you are kind of stuck in the middle.” Said Leon who he felt put a hand on his shoulder in a supportive way. “I think I can help you with that.”

“Really?” Asked Mordred as he tugged on the string of his hoody.

“Yes, since I know Morgana would want to hang out with you.” Said Leon ruffling his hair just like Arthur and Merlin did sometimes. “No matter what mood you happen to be in.”

“Oh.” Said Mordred realizing he had been worrying over his own trivial thoughts. “I figured she might not like me if I was big.”

“That’s just silly, Mordred.” Said Leon smiling at him and placing a hand over his. “We are family…”

“And family loves each other no matter what.” Said Mordred interrupting the curly-haired man as he had been told the saying many times before by his parents.

“Precisely.” Said Leon as the curly haired man stood up and away from the couch. “Now let’s get into the kitchen before Morgana eats all the chocolate chips.”

Mordred would nod as he followed Leon into the kitchen as well as grab an apron from the several hanging up. Before he even had a chance to process what had been going on in the kitchen earlier, Mordred was hugged by Morgana who seemed happy to see him. This led him to realize that Leon had been correct. It didn’t matter whether he was big or little, his family and friends would be there for him.

 

Mordred felt his eyes go wide as his brain took in the information he was reading on the computer screen. For he had decided after Leon and Morgana left and the house went back to a somewhat normal state to check his class grades for the semester which ended days ago. There Mordred would find that not only had he passed all his classes with flying colors but had done well enough to have made the Dean’s list.

An ecstatic sensation filled inside of him which caused Mordred to bolt out of the room the second the printer finished, with the thought of showing Arthur and Merlin the wonderful results. Of course, the moment Mordred entered the hallway and almost ran into the side table with the house phone, did he hear the television. There he remembered that his parents had talked about watching a movie when he left them to go into the office area. So, he pondered for a few minutes if perhaps disturbing Merlin and Arthur at this time was not a good idea.

However, luck seemed to be on his side as Mordred saw Merlin heading toward him. With a skip in his step, he walked toward the dark-haired man with his grades in his grasp. Then due to his excitement, he dropped the paper while trying to hand it off to Merlin who kindly picked it up off the floor for him. Seeing a grin appear on his father figure’s face resulted in him smiling even bigger than he had before.

“Oh, Mordred. This is outstanding.” Said Merlin placing a kiss on his forehead as well as bringing him closer for a hug.

“Wait, what did I miss?” He heard Arthur saying and looked up from his cuddling with Merlin to find the blond-haired man standing in the doorway of the living room.

“Come look at Mordred’s report card.” Said Merlin who waved in his other father figure to join them in the love fest. “He did extremely well.”

“So proud of you bud.” Arthur said to him after scanning the paper and before he felt a kiss to the back of his head. “I think this causes for a reward. Maybe a scoop or two of Merlin’s chocolate pudding.”

“Hey before we go celebrating these amazing grades, Mordred should open the rest of his gifts.” Said Merlin ruffling his hair while breaking away from the hug fest. “That is why I was coming to get you in the first place from the office.”

“I have other presents?” Questioned Mordred confused as he didn’t realize there were more wrapped items with his name on them.

“Yep, we got you a few things that your little side might not be interested in.” Said Arthur who held his hand while they all started walking toward the living room.

“But the me right now will.” Said Mordred wondering what his parents could have gotten him.

“Exactly” Said Merlin who he watched veer off from their direction of the couch to the Christmas tree were there sat three wrapped gifts.

“Oh, can I hand out the presents I have for the both of you as well?” Asked Mordred figuring that it would be the perfect timing to get those from their hiding spot.

“Sure, love.” Said Arthur as the blond-haired man let go of his hand to let him move to the hallway closet.

Mordred quickly opened the door to find his two flawlessly wrapped gifts. A portfolio case for Merlin so the big projects at work that didn’t fit inside a messenger bag could be kept from getting ruined. In addition, heavy gloves for Arthur who always complained about having cold hands when having to drive the cars. Items he knew his parents needed yet somehow forgot about since they always seemed to put his needs first instead. Something he was eternally grateful for and could only hope these present would help show how much he loved as well as treasured them for all they’ve done for him.


	26. It’s a nice day for white snow fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snow storms always have a way of making life more interesting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Everyone,
> 
> I hope you all had a great holiday season. Mine were hectic and writing had to take a back seat. So thank you for being patient with me. Please enjoy this chapter and don't hesitate to let me know if there are any tags that I have missed.
> 
> P.S. This chapter is the unbeta version. Littlewebby's internet is acting up and I didn't realize she hadn't attached the edited version. I promise to update the chapter with the beta one once I receive it. I just wanted to upload this chapter as it had been a long time since the last one.
> 
> P.S.S. I have a puppy sleeping on my lap as I type that has been keeping me quite busy so I'm not sure when the next chapter with be ready. Sorry

January 6th

Arthur woke up from a deep sleep with a sense that something was off. He mumbled to himself while reaching for his annoying loud noise emitting cell phone. It had done so for a strange reason that he didn’t quite know why. He squinted at the too bright screen as the room had been in total darkness before to see an emergency warning message. This caused Arthur to sit up in order to break away from the fogginess that his brain had been in due to the rude disturbance of his elusive dream. 

He read quickly about a wind advisory as well as heavy snow fall that could cause power outages. Frowning at the text, Arthur left the warmth of his bed with phone in hand to look out the window. Since he was a bit confused by what the message had just told him. For the weather person, had told him last night how the storm was going to blow over the area and at most an inch or two would be the damage by the time morning came.

However, pulling back the curtain showed far more snow had fallen down than Arthur had been told while he slumbered away. As the backyard was completely covered in white with not a trace of green grass to be seen. In addition, Arthur could tell by the bushes that it looked like a foot or maybe more had pile up as they were barely visible from his location.

Needing to find out what was going on, Arthur decided to make the trek downstairs to the living room for the television. He changed the channels to a news station after the remote finally decided to work for him and turn on the glowing box in front of him. Luckily for him, the storm raging outside was being explained by the person on screen.

Apparently, things had changed since his last viewing of the forecast and dramatically so. A blizzard watch had come into effect with a chance of eighteen inches to two feet of snow on the ground by early afternoon. There was even a travel banned that started roughly two hours ago and would resulting in Pent-King Corporation being mandatory closed.

This made Arthur wonder if the snow gods got together and decided to answered many of his co-workers wishes. For some of them had been begging for a three-day weekend to come around. Not that there hadn’t been a couple of four-day work weeks in a row. Just a need to relax after the craziness of the holiday season which Arthur could totally agree with. 

Checking his e-mails to see if anyone sent him a message about if there was work or not. Arthur found an all capitalized subject one from his father entitled WORK FROM HOME. Of course, he shook his head at the brazenness that was Uther. For many employees, wouldn’t be able to get their jobs done as important information sat in the office filing cabinets instead of the on-line server and some could already be without power. 

Thinking about losing electricity, he contemplated where the lantern could be in the house. Arthur knew it had been several years since Merlin and he went camping. So, the supplied almost certainly in his mind became shattered around the house like the sleeping bags being kept in the hallway closet for reason unknown to him. However, some of the stuff like the fold-able tent, cooler, and camping stove had been stored in the basement and could be the location of the items he wanted as well.

“Uncle Arty?” Arthur caught as he was debating with himself about taking a trip downstairs and turned toward the hallway to find Gwaine coming in to the living room with a scared look. 

“Our phones screamed at us.” Said Gwaine who still seemed a bit shaken up by the event. “And Uncle Merlin is trying to calm Mor.”

“It okay sport, just a warning about the weather.” Said Arthur as he moved closer to Gwaine who looked scared at him like perhaps his phone was going to go off as well.

This led Arthur to place his mobile device on the coffee table before he opened his arms to invite the long-haired man in to a much-needed hug as well as a back rub for comfort. In the moment of wondering what was going on outside, he had briefly forgotten about Gwaine spending the night over. For Percy needed to attend an important conference a few hours away today and had left yesterday afternoon due to the early start time. 

Therefore, Gwaine had been left to be taken care of by Merlin and his capable hands. Plus, their little one had jumped for joy over the sudden sleepover arrangement for anyone to disagree with it. Which reminded him how his husband had been the buffer in between two giggle not wanting to go to bed best friends in the guest room and explained why if felt so odd when he woke up alone.

“Arthur?” Is there a little in footy pajamas with you?” He heard shouted from what sounded like the top of the stairs and in the tone of Merlin.

“He is, is everything okay?” Asked Arthur as he looked down at Gwaine’s covered feet connected to the blue sleeper adorn with teddy bears as he hoped his dark-haired lover hadn’t been running around on the second floor getting stressed out in the process.

“Just peachy.” Said his husband loudly which made him realize that Merlin was coming down the stairs.

Only after he saw the dark-haired man did Arthur understand what had taken Merlin so long to get to the living room. For cling to his husband like a vine was his little knight and the pink eyes the boy wore told Arthur everything. So, it didn’t take him by surprise when Mordred made grabby hands in his direction asking to be consoled by him as well. As if Arthur, could deny his little one anything with the pouty face that was being given in his direction.

It turned out to be a bit more difficult to move then he had anticipated with Gwaine still cuddling him but slowly and determined, Arthur was able to reach his little and husband. A hug fest for four came to be and he figure it was what everyone in the house needed after being disturbed from their slumbers. Especially since, just as it seemed things were calming down, the lights and television flickered before the room when into total darkness.

 

Arthur had to admit, it was awe-inspiring to watch his husband tend to the fireplace. It seemed in his mind like Merlin had magically spoken a spell or something in order to get such a blaze going so quickly as well as being able to work with wood that had been out in the snow. Unlike his few poor attempts before his husband had shoo him away to handle the pillow fighting littles.

For they both had been busy trudging through the deep white fluffy outside to getting some lumber from the pile near the shed. Merlin and he had instructed the boys to play with Mordred’s toys in the glow of a lantern found in the pantry, but it seemed someone had a better idea. Of course, neither little wanted to say who had started the war. 

However, Arthur had it on good authority it had been Gwaine in a way to distract Mordred from thinking the worst as his husband and he went outside in the pitch-black night. Plus, there was the fact that Gwaine’s equipment came from the set-up that Merlin had made of three connected sleeping bags, fleece blankets and now only two pillows. Which happen to by right next to were the long-haired man sitting location had been when they left bundled up in snow gear. 

In addition, Mordred’s arsenal was lifted from the couch in what he could see as a defense move. For his little knight’s position, had been away from the indoor camping layout and a black toy car that happened to be the young man’s favorite sat abandon near the leg of the sofa. Knowing he had figured out the culprit, Arthur picked up a pillow to attack the long-haired man with and restarting the battle.

 

Once the tiring out of littles had occurred which in reality was more him then them, Arthur deemed it time for everyone to try to go back to sleep. Of course, his husband, the fire master had decline his offer of taking the first watch to keep the intensity of the blaze going and the warm of the room from dropping. Therefore, causing him to be the monkey in the middle so to speak with the sleeping arrangement of Gwaine on his left and his little knight snuggling up to him on the other side. 

“Daddy?” Arthur drowsily perceived as he had been feeling the pull of slumber about to take over.

“Yes, love?” Said Arthur opening his eyes to see Mordred sadly looking at him. “Having trouble getting to sleep.”

“Uh-huh” Said the young man as Mordred cuddled up to him closer than before.

“Do you want a bottle?” Asked Arthur knowing the gas stove could still be used in the power outage by holding a stricken match to one of the four top burners. “Papa can make you some warm milk.”

“Just want music, please.” Said Mordred who showed him the boy’s phone which appeared to have no battery left to continue playing. 

“I will see if I can find something.” Said Arthur realizing there had to be something in the house that could play the radio.

He figured the closet in the office that held old computers and other gadgets would be a good first place to check. So, Arthur removed himself as careful as possible in order to keep Gwaine who he could hear snoring softly from waking up. Then Arthur grabbed one of the flashlights from the coffee table that his husband had found earlier as Merlin and he were trying to keep their cell phone use to a minimum. Lastly, he whispered softly to his husband about his game plan so that if too much time had passed, Merlin would need to get him. For seeing some of their old devices might just bring back nostalgia and take him down memory lane which would distract him from his mission.

 

Luck was on his side as Arthur had found an old IPod, the ones that had a click wheel and most likely Merlin’s music playlist. Since he recalled giving the particular item to his husband after they had been dating for six months. This meant Arthur had been the one to set up the music player in the first place and knew the dark-haired man’s favoritism with classical pieces even in the beginning of their time together.

Then what made the discovery even sweeter for him happened to be when Arthur turned on the device to find fifty percent starting at him in the right corner. For he had figured it would have no juice left but was pleased to find there would be plenty of time for Mordred to drift off to dreamland with that amount of battery. Of course, that was if he hadn’t been gone long enough for his little knight to fall asleep without the aid of music to guide the way.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mordred found himself quite thrilled with the fact of getting the opportunity to eat in the kitchen by lantern light. It brought everyone together to be able to see and pushed his high chair as close to the table as possible. Which allowed for an interesting opportunity to take place in his mind, as Daddy was feeding him sliced banana pieces. Something Mordred enjoyed more than he had thought previously. 

Usually his daddy or papa placed something like that on his high chair tray for him to pick up and nibble on himself. However, without the over headlights on to see properly as well as the sky being quite grey outside as snow was still falling, this alternative seemed better than him trying to locate said food items. Especially since half the time during meal times his daddies put things on the tray without him noticing until later. That often resulting in some smooshed but still eatable fruit.

With the way, his mind was heading, Mordred imagine what it would be like if his papa or daddy ever did feed him on a normal occasion. He wondered if Papa’s airplane sounds which he knew Merlin had used with Lance several times would apply or if there might be a different kind of noise for him. Perhaps a train sound instead as his daddies knew he was partial to the locomotives if the television shows and toys were anything to go by. 

Then Mordred thought about Daddy who at the moment was just holding fruit out for him to take. If he refused to accept it with his mouth, would Arthur even try to get him to open up or just place the item down for him to grab instead. As Mordred was sure his parents didn’t know he kind of wanted to be feed like this more often now that he had experienced it and figured a talk with them when he was in red card mood might have to happen for that to occur.

“Hey, Love.” Said Daddy giving him a confused look and he figured it was due to him not accepting the food. “Is everything okay?”

“He could just be done with eating, dear?” Said Papa who he noticed was trying to peering at his tray in the dim lighting. “Is your belly full, Honey?”

Mordred shrugged while he looked down at his green bowl which had been filled with the yummy cinnamon and bits of apple pieces’ oatmeal that Papa had magical be able to make on the stove. Only to find that he had eaten it all already while working away in his head the concept of being feed. Even more surprising was when he grabbed his blue sippy cup to find it had been drained of the orange juice that it had at one point contained. 

“Maybe Mor doesn’t want any more nanas.” Said Gwaine who happened to be sitting on the other side of him and placed a few grapes onto the tray. 

Knowing that his best friend had realized his dilemma, Mordred nodded as he picked up a grape to stuff into his mouth. He did want to explain to his daddies about his new idea but found it hard to speak of such desires when there was so much at stake. For what if he found not to really like being feed by them and they turn out to enjoy it a great deal. How could he go back to the way things were usually done before, especially if both his parents smiled brightly at him with encouraging words.

Just as he decided to talk about what he was feeling, did the light above him flicker on. This caused everyone else to become overjoyed with the prospect of having electricity and heat. So much that Mordred deemed his situation needed to be brought up another day when perhaps it happened to be only his parents and him. 

 

Mordred found watching Daddy who was outside maneuvering snow to be quite entertaining, while he stood at the window next to the front door. The way the white fluffiness flew into the air as the snow blower chugged along to clear a path toward the street. He even deemed the best part of the whole thing being when the wind blew causing Daddy to ended up looking like a powered doughnut which always made him giggle.

Of course, he had wanted to go outside to help with the clean-up process that occurred after a snowstorm. However, Papa had explained while getting him ready for the cold weather that it wasn't necessary to join in as Daddy would be done in no time at all. Something that he could understand now as the cars were already cleared off and only a little bit of the driveway was left.

From his conversation with Papa, he had been told that they were actually heading to the backyard to play. An idea that made him a bit worried as Mordred could only think of being pelted with tons of snowballs. Not that he thought his daddies would do that to him but still a scary notion as he was unsure of what they would do outside in the form of fun.

"Mordred, sweetheart." He heard which caused him to turn away from the window to find Papa standing next to him smiling. "We all set to head on our adventure."

"Otay, Papa" Said Mordred as he followed Merlin and Gwaine toward the kitchen door.

Mordred couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of his best friend trying to move with the warm gear on. Even he was having some trouble with the bulk of the snow pants that had been placed on him by Papa. However, he knew the moment that the backdoor was opened and they felt the cold air on them, it would be worth wearing all the layers of clothing, big puffy jacket, wool hat, and mittens.

“Going to make lots of snow angels.” Said Gwaine to him as Papa undid the locks on the door. "Then a fort!"

"No snowman?" Asked His Papa as they stepped into the snow-covered yard.

"Maybe later." Said Gwaine who suddenly plopped backwards into the white fluffy stuff once they had moved a good distance away from the house.

Mordred stood and watched as his best friend began moving in a sort of jumping jacks’ kind of way, with arms and legs going back and forth. It occurred only after Gwaine got up and moved away from the creation that Mordred realize how a snow angel came to be from the long-haired man's actions. Then he felt himself starting to fall down as he heard Gwaine exclaim loudly that it was his turn to make one. This caused him to giggle as he copied the movement he had just witnessed. 

 

While looking up at the grey sky, Mordred heard someone flop next to him. He knew it wasn't Papa who he had seen working on what looked like the bottom part of a snowman before he tumbled to the white covered ground. Plus, Gwaine was hovering around him with tips on how to make his angel better like lifting his arms higher. Therefore, it has to be Daddy and when he got up from finishing his masterpiece, Mordred found himself to correct on who it was.

However, he noticed his daddy just laying on the ground which confused him. For what was the point in his mind of being outside in the cold weather if not to play and have fun. So, against his earlier fear and maybe his better judgment, Mordred grabbed some snow to mold into a ball before throwing it directly at Arthur. He smirked as it hit Daddy in the chest as he ran off with Gwaine in tow. 

"You supposed to make a fort first." He heard his best friend say behind him. "Then declared war."

"Had to get the king." Said Mordred who decided the shed would be a good place to hid behind.

"I get it, his guard was down" Said Gwaine as they reached the side of the building "But now the magician is going to back him up."

"Warlock!" Said Mordred loudly which unfortunately gave their position away as a snowball came toward them.

"Tomato, potato" Said Gwaine as the long-haired man gently nudged him toward the other side of the shed. "We can duck behind the bushes."

Mordred follows Gwaine's lead as they ran across the yard. He felt a few snowballs hit his back but nothing like Mordred had feared about earlier. For they weren't hard like the ones Mordred remembered from when he had been younger. Nor was he the only target as Mordred saw one white powder round object tag Gwaine in the arm.

Plus, when his best friend and he finally got shielded from the line of fire, they were able to return an assault of their own. Several of the snowballs Gwaine and he threw did land on the mark which made him quite enjoy this battle he started. Especially since Mordred could see his daddies laughing and having a good time as well.

 

Normally, Mordred had a wonderful experience watching cartoon with Gwaine as his best friend frequently gave witty retorts to go along with what they were seeing on the screen and it usually made him laugh. However, there was a situation going on inside Mordred’s body at the moment which caused him too much of a distract from all the fun he should be having. For Mordred’s stomach kept cramping up even with him quietly burping to get a bit of relief.

To make matters worse both his daddies were busy on their cell phones. A rare occasion that hardly ever occurred but seemed to have picked the worse time to happen. Since Daddy’s mobile device had gone off just when his tummy started to act up a few minutes earlier. Then Papa’s ringtone of a classic song started playing and he knew it had to be someone important in order to be answered. Especially with Daddy already off in another room as both his daddies didn’t like leaving him unattended.

Of course, Mordred realized he could walk into the kitchen where he could see Papa leaning against the counter from his location on the couch, or head toward the office that he saw Daddy go into. That letting them know what the issue was would be an okay thing to do as both his parents would have no hesitation to end their calls. Even the person on the other line might be sympathetic to his plight and allow for a called back later to occur.

So, Mordred sat up from his scrunched position next to his best friend in a way of forcing himself to start his mission to tell one of his daddies. Upon standing, he felt pressure from his bottom and wonder if perhaps another way of getting rid of gas from his system would help with his poor aching belly. His mind would be made up for him when another painful cramp that almost had him double over came to be, causing him to give a gently push.

Unfortunately, Mordred didn’t take into the fact that his action might cause a different scenario to happen. It was only after he felt the load leave his body that Mordred understood to his horror what was truly had gone on inside his diaper and it wasn’t a simple toot like he had thought. No, it was something he had nightmares about and the panic started to set in.

For he couldn’t recall having a conversation about this predicament with his parents. It hadn’t been a subject that Mordred had wanted to bring up as the topic had been far too embarrassing back in the beginning of their journey. Then the situation never cross his mind to ask his daddies about what the arrangement might be if he ever did what he had just done. 

Not knowing what to do and anxious about how Merlin and Arthur might react, Mordred could feel his eyes started to water. His lips trembling as thought of his daddies being mad at him for having a poopy diaper and about how they might not want to take care of a stinky little. This caused the tears to start to fall as well as a whimper to leave his mouth.

Then he heard “Sweetheart” being called ever so gently and saw both of his daddies in his line of vision. They had such worried looks on their faces that made Mordred suddenly think that all his fears were just in his head. For he could tell by his Papa’s soft approach and Daddy’s concerned eyes that everything wasn’t as horrible as he had been imagining it could be.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Merlin hugged his little elf while gently rocking back and front. Since his usually method of calming the young man proved to only make matters worse. For when his hand moved down to rub the boy’s back, it hit the top of Mordred’s diaper that had been sticking out of the sweatpants. Which caused the little prince to let out a wail before the tears came falling again.

Thankful for him, his husband decided to join them in the love fest at that time to help with comforting their little one. Soft spoken words of reassurance that everything was going to be okay into the boy’s ear seemed to have broken through. Since the young man would let up on the crying and just be tranquilly held in Arthur’s and his arms as they both gave the boy kisses of love.

Then he felt another set of arms which could only be Gwaine’s as the long-haired man had been missing when his husband and he had entered the room. Seeing all three of Mordred’s stuffed animals in the crook of Gwaine’s arm, Merlin realized Mordred’s best friend had taken a trip upstairs to the nursery. He figured that had been a thoughtful idea to grab what they all knew would make his little elf extremely grateful to cuddle with.

The inkling of the long-haired man proved to be correct in his eyes as the young man smiled at seeing the stuffies once Arthur and he broke away from the hugging. Merlin watched with an appreciative grin as Gwaine handed each toy to the young man one by one. First Snowy who Mordred hugged quickly before making grabby hands for the other two. Stormy got a bigger embrace until the boy got a hold of Shadow who seemed to be the most important animal at the moment. Especially since his little prince was kissing the dog and squeezing it tightly.

Knowing that Mordred would be alright, Merlin started debating inside his mind what would be the best way to get the young man changed. The bathroom down the hall had merit as it would be the quickest to reach for the upset little. However, Merlin decided he wanted to be able to make this a simple and easy clean-up process to show his little elf that this kind of thing could be fixed in a snap and not that big of a deal.

Something that wouldn’t happen as well in the small area with him kneeing, the supplies being scattered about, and no room for others to be in to help him. For Merlin knew Arthur and Gwaine weren’t about to let Mordred out of their sight nor be left on the sideline when distracting the young man was needed. So, the only option they had in his opinion, was to get his little boy upstairs to the changing table in the nursery. 

A feat that he figured might be difficult to achieve since the young man might not want to walk all that way but necessary for his plan to work. Thus, Merlin figured he needed to convince his husband to pick their little up to get to the ideal location to change a messy diaper. Therefore, Merlin spoke softly to his husband as Gwaine and Mordred were playing with the stuffed animals. 

 

Chinese food was not a usually meal selection at the Pendragon household. However, Merlin wanted to do something special for Mordred after the event that occurred this afternoon. Plus, seeing his husband’s face light up when he brought out the takeout menu verified to Merlin how ideal the choose he had made for dinner happened to be

Of course, that meant getting to eat with chopsticks which was a funny affair if the General Tao Sause on Arthur’s face was anything to go by. After several admits by himself with losing grip on what he was trying to get in his mouth and watching it fell back onto his plate, Merlin grabbed a fork. He saw that his husband who never wanted to give up, proved to be even more of a disaster at using the utensil than him. Especially considering the amount of rice that ended up on the floor.

Their little one had dropped one stick when figuring out how to hold them during the beginning of the meal and appeared to be fine without trying the alternative tableware. As Merlin, had offered the boy another pair but only got a shake of the head instead. For it seemed, his little prince rather happily munch away on the meal by using the plastic fork and spoon that matched the animal plate the boy had.

This left Gwaine as the winner for the evening in his opinion when it came to eating with chopsticks. Since the long-haired man was the lone one in the group of them with the grasp of the utensil. A simple explanation of the fact that Percy had taught his friend had been explained when Arthur had asked.

Just as he was about to congratulate Gwaine on the wonderful job, the doorbell rang. This caused his husband and him to share a confused look as they didn’t know anyone who would be out in this cold weather. The only logical conclusion that came to mind was that the next-door neighbor wanted to use the snow blower. Therefore, Merlin got up to answer the door, seeing how he was the cleanest of the two grown-ups at the table. 

In quite a surprise, Merlin would find a slightly covered in snow Percy at the door smiling at him. The tall man would explain that the convention had been cancelled for the remainder of the weekend due to another impending storm while removing a wet hat and gloves. Which made Merlin figure that the tall man had driven here as soon as possible to pick-up Gwaine. 

Not that Arthur and him couldn’t have watched Mordred’s best friend for another day or two. Just that he knew from the trip in October about the ache of being away from one’s little. Plus, if he had been given the chance, Merlin would have jumped to get to his little elf sooner if he could have that day he had been away.

“Should I be concerned?” Asked Percy as Merlin was hanging up the tall man’s jacket in the hall closet.

“About two littles not greeting you.” Said Merlin as they walked into the living room.

“Yes.” Said Percy who he could tell had been looking around for the normal rambunctious duo.

“No, we just sat down to dinner.” Said Merlin guiding the tall man toward the dining room. “And Moo Shu pork seems to be keeping Gwaine glue to his seat.”

“I see” Said Percy as his friend suddenly stopped moving. “I can wait on the couch.”

“Don’t be absurd, we have more than plenty.” Said Merlin lightly shaking his head at the tall man’s silliness. “You know how ordering take-out goes.”

“Indeed, I do.” Said Percy beaming at him with a nod of thank you before entering the dining room.

Merlin would grin as he heard the excitement of the others at seeing Percy while he walked into the kitchen. For another set of silverware, plate and glass of ice tea was needed. In addition, he hoped this amazing turn of affair would allow another great memory of the day for his little elf. Perhaps then it would show that the one hiccup in the day didn’t matter as much as he knew Mordred had been worried about.


	27. Grandma to the rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What do you do when both daddies are sick? Lets find out what happens to Mordred when both Arthur and Merlin are under the weather.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Everyone,
> 
> So it has been a extremely long time since I have updated and I apologize. I wished I had good news like I written a few chapters. However that is not the case since I actually took break. Not that I had intended for it to happen just that I had a block.
> 
> Please let me know what you think about this chapter as I haven't had any feedback and I am worried that it is not awesome like it should be. I apologize for any grammar errors, I do re-read my work several times but mistake sometimes slip past me. Thank you and enjoy!
> 
> Chemical_Romance_Queen_of_Roses

January 25th

Merlin sighed in a tiresome way after tossing the tissue he had just used on his sore nose in the small trash bin next to the sink. He pressed the back of his hand to his forehead while taking in the pale complexion staring back at him in the bathroom mirror of the master bedroom. This made him realizes that he could no longer denying the one thing Merlin had been trying to when the first bout of sneezes and couching had occurred the day before.

That he had indeed caught the illness that had been circulating around work for the past couple of weeks. The bug even took down his mighty husband which showed how bad it was as Arthur hardly ever got sick. Thus, his reasoning for why he was nabbed as the next victim since the blond-haired man had taken time off from work to stay home and recuperate. Resulting in him having to take care of the whiny man not that his husband would ever agree to that term but it was like having two littles in the house instead of one to Merlin.

Shaking his head lightly at the antics that was his husband when sick, Merlin walked into the master bedroom to check on how Arthur was doing. The lump in the mattress wheezing slightly let him know that his husband was still feeling poorly. Something he had hoped wasn’t the case as Merlin thought if Arthur was well enough, perhaps his husband could handle their boy while he got some rest today.

However, knowing that wouldn’t be the case, Merlin trekked slowly as possible to not bother his throbbing head towards his side of the bed. There he found his phone on the end table that he had been grateful to see in the right place for once. Since Merlin wasn’t about to take drowsy cold medicine if he needed to be up and about with his little elf in only a few short hours or so. 

Then Merlin felt his eyes widen as he noticed the numbers on the screen as he pressed the home button and saw 9:33 a.m. Horror coursed thought him as he shoved his phone into the pocket of his sleep pants to head toward the nursery. Even his name being called by his husband didn’t keep him from running down the hall since he figured Arthur could wait because his little elf needed him more.

The mere image of a crying for hours’ young man wondering why Daddy and Papa weren’t around brought tears to his own eyes as Merlin entered the dark room. He became confused as he found that Mordred was not inside the crib nor anywhere in the nursery. This gave him a small amount of optimism that maybe just maybe the boy was in red card this morning. 

After all the beginning of a new term for school has just started crossed his mind as Merlin walked out of the room and moved to the stairway to head down. He debated on which part of the house to check first for young man while walking carefully down the steps to keep himself from falling. For at this time of day, Mordred in adult mood did like to take a quick pause from studying to have a snack as well as have a chat with him while he had breakfast or washing dishes.

 

Merlin blinked as he took in the view ahead of him while leaning against the door-frame of the kitchen. He felt a bit relived by what he saw but wasn’t quite sure if it was real or a hallucination from his sluggish mind. Since his mother was there sitting in his usually seat at the table and happen to be spoon-feeding applesauce to his little elf who seemed to be enjoying the treatment. 

“Mom?” He spoke out as he forced himself to move into the room. “What are you doing here?”

Merlin watched as two heads snapped toward his direction and both sets of eyes gave him a worried look. This caused him to realize how drained his energy was from the search for Mordred and with the adrenaline wearing off, that his legs appeared to be acting like jelly. The only thing keeping him from falling down seemed to be a pair of strong arms which had appeared out of nowhere.

“I asked her to come take care of Mordred, you idiot.” He heard a raspy voice say close to his ear whom he knew had to be from Arthur and the reason he was still standing. “As we are both very sick.”

“You should have told me.” Said Merlin as he was guided to one of the unused kitchen chairs.

“I thought I did yesterday afternoon” Said his husband giving him a concerned look before he felt a cold hand on his head. “Perhaps you were already asleep upstairs when I finished my conversation.”

“Wait, I only took a ten-minute nap on the couch.” Said Merlin confused on the events that had occurred yesterday.

For he quite remembered being woken up by a smelly Mordred who’s diaper he changed before coloring time began. Then there had been the usually of making dinner, watching a movie, and bath time with the young man. Plus, he had only allowed the moment of sickness to take hold and have a fit of sneezes after a little one had been fast asleep in dreamland. 

However, had that all been a vision in his head making it seem like he had been having a normal day. Since Merlin couldn’t quite remember what game his little one had wanted to play nor what they made for dessert. This causing him to doubt his memory of yesterday and realize he was sicker than he had assumed.

Now knowing that he would not be spending the day with his little prince but in bed to recover, Merlin took a peak over in the boy’s direction to see how Mordred was handling the situation of sort. The young man in his opinion seemed to be dealing quite well with the fact that Arthur and he were out of commission. Especially since he didn’t see any tear stains on Mordred’s face but a blush instead. 

For his little one, had been drinking from a bottle of what appeared to be grape juice before noticing that he was watching. This caused Merlin to give a lazy smile to the young man in order to show that it was okay as he hazily figured his reaction might affect how things were preserved for the future. He even tried to give his little elf a comforting hand of support before finding it swat away by his husband.

“We don’t need your mother dealing with three ill people.” Said Arthur scowling at him wearily before taking a seat at the table as well.

“Mordred been around us this whole time, if anything he’s already be infected.” Said Merlin checking the boy’s features to see if there were any hints of sickness.

“Okay, that’s enough from the two of you.” Said his mother who he saw was giving them a stern face from her seat at the table. “I think it’s time for meds and then back to bed.”

“Papa no cherry.” Said Mordred in a strict tone.

That made Merlin curious on how his little prince knew about his disdain for the artificial flavor of cough syrup. A scruffy response from Arthur next to him about Gwen telling Mordred when the kind friend had been over solved the mystery for him. Which helped ease his troubled thoughts of how did his sick husband take care of the young man when he went into a cold coma. He even felt grateful for having amazing people in his life to help in the time of need such as this.

 

Merlin pushed the cover over his shoulders as he tried to get into a comfortable position. Thanks to his husband’s help, they had both been able to trek up the stairs to their room safety. Even if it did have a feeling of Déjà vu for a moment as they climb but it seemed off for some strange reason like there should have been another person assisting on his other side. 

Just as Merlin thought to ask Arthur did he feel the soft breathing on the back of his neck and an arm around him. Knowing he should stop stressing about what could have been and instead allow his body the rest it so badly needs to heal, did Merlin start feeling the effect of the cold meds starting to kick in. As he hadn’t need to cough in the last couple of minutes or grab a tissue to deal with his sore red nose.

Then Merlin was hit with the drowsiness as he suddenly felt like his eyes couldn’t stay open for a moment much longer and that was when he had a moment of clarity. The reason for a meeting that Mordred had been wanting to have with Arthur and him came to mind. It became so clear what the discussion was going to be about, how the boy in little mode wanted to be feed by daddies.

Of course, timing had been horrible the past few weeks as work had become quite hectic in the new year for both his husband and him. Plus, there were all the snow storms that caused headaches with travel. Therefore, the timing for all three of them being able to sit down to talk hadn’t been a reality to take place. However, since Merlin had figured it out, a meeting would have to occur once he felt better.

For he could clearly remember seeing the light shining in the boy's eyes as his mother made train noises with a spoon. Then the happy humming sound as the young man opened up to accept a mouthful of applesauce. Finally, his mind replay the beautiful smiles on everyone’s face as a meal became a fun time to been had by them while sleep finally decided to take a hold of him.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mordred was sitting on the couch cuddling with Shadow and Grandma as they watched a movie. He felt a bit upset with himself for not being able to be an adult full-time and help take care of his sick daddies. Even if Hunith told him that he didn’t need to do that, Mordred had been secretly trying to since last Friday when Daddy came home early from work with a fever.

Since he usually only stayed in red card moods during the morning hours as it had been a routine for school, Mordred couldn’t stop himself come yesterday at noon. He started sliding down to green the moment the tone on his phone when off signaling a break. Plus, how could he not when Papa started talking to him about some yummy lunch of grilled cheese and tomato soup. 

It was only when play time came to be that Mordred noticed how sick his papa really was. He turned around to show off his tower of blocks to find the dark-haired man asleep on the couch even though nap time had just ended a few minutes ago. Thus, he grabbed the blue fleece blanket from the top of the sofa to place over his papa. Then he told himself that everything would be okay for at least an hour or two if he colored and allowed his under the weather daddies some time to rest.

Unfortunately for him, diapers didn’t magically clean themselves and he found himself in need of having to waking the warlock for that problem to be solved. Expect that proved to be quite a difficult feat for him to accomplish as Merlin didn’t even move when he called out for Papa which normal always worked. Even banging pots and pans that seemed to be extra loud in the quite house, did nothing to wake his papa. 

Mordred realized the sick spell that had been place on his papa was too strong for him to break. So, he figured that a trip upstairs to rouse the king out of bed was necessary. Of course, this caused a conflicted within him as part of Mordred was scared about bugging his Daddy and how it might not result in getting what he wanted.

Not that he thought Arthur would ever refuse to change him, not now that he had been with his daddies for this long. It was just the fact that he didn’t know how the blond-haired man would deal with the situation so to speak. As he always reserved the stinky ones to Papa as Merlin seemed to have a handle on how to clean him up in a jiffy.

Luckily a decision was made for him, as he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Apparently, all the racket he had made trying to wake up Papa had gotten the king out of bed to find out what was going on. So, he showed his daddy how Merlin was sound asleep and not about to rise any time soon.

 

After a longer than what he was use to change but who could really complain when it was Daddy’s first time dealing with a poopy diaper, Mordred found himself helping Arthur with making phone calls. For his feeling under the weather daddy had no voice to speak due to a sore throat. Therefore, it was up to him to talk after Arthur set up the person to contact.

Grandma had been the first person on the list and she needed no reason to help out. He had only just said hello and it seemed she knew what was going on. For he would get a “be there by bedtime” response and a click before even saying his daddies were sick. Perhaps the fact that it was him as the caller instead of Papa or Daddy had clued her in that something was amiss.

Then Arthur clicked on another person and Mordred figured it had to do with getting someone over the house to take care of him sooner. For Auntie Gwen and Cousin Lance lived the closest out of all their friends and family. Plus, it made sense to him since his daddy was starting to cough more frequently as well as having rounds of sneezes which meant cold medication would need to be taken by the king and that stuff made Daddy very sleepy quickly.

Next on the list turn out to be Uncle Percy and it got Mordred a bit teary eye. As he had to explain why they were not going to have the play date that was setup with his best friend for the next day. The two reasons, he didn’t start crying while talking on the phone happened to be that he heard Gwaine in the background say that it was okay and how Uncle Percy explained how it was really just a postponed get-together not a cancellation. 

The last person that Mordred spoke to on the phone was Uncle Leon. Since Daddy was required to let the curly haired man know about Papa being sick as well as any designs for clients needed be labeled as delayed for work. Of course, after all that he did have to relay some questions that Arthur wanted to ask about how the office was doing but giggle to the reply as Leon only said things were good each time.

 

Just as he handed the phone to Daddy, the doorbell chimed. Figuring it had to be Auntie Gwen and Lance, Mordred got excited as he had the prospect of someone to play with. Since his daddies didn’t have the energy lately due to the sick bug to join him on the carpet to move around toy cars, build block towers or color. 

However, when Daddy opened the door, he didn't see his friend but a different person standing next to Auntie Gwen. Even thought it was Lance, this version happened to be someone he hadn't met yet. For he could tell by the way the other man was dressed and standing that Lance happened to be in Adult mood at the moment instead of little like he was used to. 

Therefore, Mordred wasn’t as comfortable with the other man when asked to grab something for them to do as Daddy wanted privacy to speak with Auntie Gwen. Especially since this Lance was talking to him which was another abnormality to him in his already out of ordinary day. Thought, there was one thing that he figured might be good about this situation. That maybe just maybe if he played his cards right then he could ask the other man about what life was like as a baby little.

Just as he and Lance were starting to come up with a storyline for his toy train set that he got for Christmas for Uncle Leon and Morgana did the problem of how to get Papa up the stairs came to be. As Daddy and Auntie Gwen had been able to wake up the ill-feeling Merlin if only for the time being. This was when Mordred realized how much of a green eye monster lived instead of him when it came to Lance being around his papa.

For the other man, would get to assist his daddy in the guiding of Papa towards the master bedroom slowly. Something he had volunteered for first but got shot down due the fact that he had a habit of being too fidgety when moving in his current mode. Plus, his stance was a bit too wide from the diaper that he wore underneath the sweatpants that Daddy had put on him after his last change.

So, Mordred had to watch on the sideline so to speak which he didn’t think was fair as he had been trying to be supportive all day. Then to make matters worse, he wasn’t even allowed to give his Papa a kiss or hug as he had been told to stay downstairs with Auntie Gwen by Daddy when he started to climb the stairs after the trio. Therefore, Mordred couldn’t help himself but thrown a tiny fit and was made to take a twenty-minute cool down in the corner.

 

Mordred frowned while sitting in his high chair as he watched Auntie Gwen and Lance having a conversation while eating dinner. He looked down at his own bowl that had yet to be touched and softly groaned. For it just didn't feel right to him to be enjoying macaroni and cheese that was made in his house but not by Papa.

He understood why Auntie Gwen had decided to create one of his favorite dish. Since he figured that she had wanted to do something that happened to be a comfort food to him. As Mordred was dealing with a very odd kind of evening with his daddies both upstairs sick in bed.

However, there were differences with the macaroni and cheese that were keeping Mordred from bring himself to take a bite. Due to his time around food at the restaurant and dinner, he knew the different between cheese just by look, this was not the cheddar sauce Merlin made but American instead. Plus, the noodles were the wrong type when it came to his papa's version that he absolutely loved.

"Mordred? Sweetie? Is your food too hot?" asked Auntie Gwen looking over at with a worried face. “Do you want me to blow on it.?”

Mordred doesn't reply back to her as he not sure what to say. Especially in a way that doesn’t sound ungrateful and rude. For he knew she had taken the time out of busy schedule to be here with him and even making dinner which she didn’t have to do. Since there were plenty of left-over in the fridge that she could have just heated up since Daddy had been only munching on toast or put together something easy like tuna sandwiches.

"Maybe he wants you to feed it to him “Said Lance and Mordred felt himself blushing at the statement.

"Smart thinking, Boo” said Auntie Gwen and he watched her grab the plastic handled spoon he used to dig into his bowl with. "Okay, Mordred. Here comes the car ready to pull up into the garage. Vroom vroom."

Mordred seemed to be a bit in shock that Auntie Gwen was actually spoon feeding him. Something he wanted to have the full experience of before talking with his daddies about. Especially if it became a permanent occurrence. So much so, he didn't realize he had opened his mouth for her. Not until he started chewing and tastes the wonderful flavor of the macaroni and cheese. 

 

Mordred was lying in his crib on his side looking in while lazily sucking on his pacifier. He had been trying to drift off to sleep but having trouble since the phone he used to play music had been left downstairs. Plus, he didn’t have a bottle of warm milk as his tummy at the time had been feeling off. Of course, once he got comfy with his stuffed animals and green fleece blanket, Mordred was feeling better but not at all tired. 

However, he had no desire to bug Auntie Gwen who had gotten him in his favorite jammie and tucked him in sweetly. Nor could he see himself calling out for Lance as story time had been much longer than usual with the other man. For there had been three books recited to him instead of the normal one and they had been told to him so wonderful with each character having a different voice similar to how Papa read to him.

Just as he decided to flip over to his other side to stare at the colored changing dragon, did Mordred hear noise outside. To him, it seemed like a car door had been opened before the sound of voices could be picked up by his ears as well. This made Mordred sit up for he knew of only one person who would be showing up at their house at this time of night and that was Grandma.

It seemed like forever to him but in reality, was only a few minutes that the door to his room creaked and he watched as a figure entered the room toward him. He could tell by the shorter stature as well as the hesitating moves that it was indeed the person he had been hoping to see. Especially when the dragon light hit them and showed the smiling face of Hunith to him.

“You are supposed to be sleeping, little one.” Said Grandma as she was walking toward him.

“Me tried.” Said Mordred standing up and making grabby hands for he wanted so badly to hug her.

“Well, how about we go downstairs for a bit and you can tell me all about your day.” Said Grandma while taking down the side of his crib. “We can even have some cookies that I brought.”

“Yay and get milk too?” Said Mordred as he quickly climbed out of bed to give a sloppy kiss to the cheek and a big hug to Hunith.

“Absolutely, buttercup.” Said Grandma before she placed a few kisses on his forehead. “Warm chocolate milk is the best remedy for little who can’t sleep.”

Mordred could only agree with her as they made their way quietly down the hall to the stairs. Hunith and he did take a quick peek into the master bedroom to see how his daddies were doing before resuming the journey to the kitchen. He felt ever so luckily that Grandma had finally arrived, for he could tell that she was just what all of them needed.

 

Hearing his name being called, Mordred realized he had been thinking so much about what had happened yesterday that he saw none of the movie. For the credits were being played on the television screen in front of him. Plus, Grandma was no longer sitting on the couch with him but standing nearby with a concerned look on her face.

“Worrying about your daddies, buttercup?” asked Grandma as she motioned from him to stand up. 

“Uh-uh. Was thinking.” Said Mordred while following her towards the kitchen.

“Well I was being a space cadet as well during that movie.” Said Grandma who he watched grab an apron from the rack and put it on. “How would you like to create my famous chicken noodle soup with me.”

“Yes, Please.” Said Mordred clapping his hands in excitement at the prospect of finally getting to be helpful even if it was in a roundabout way of making his daddies feel better.

“Good, I love when I have an assistant.” Said Grandma picking out another apron from him. “Cooking with company is always funnier.”

“Papa like it when I work with him on food too.” Said Mordred letting her placing a green smock on him 

“Oh really, does he let you lick the spoon after making cookies?” Said Grandma while she was tying up the strings around his back and Mordred thought he felt a kiss to the back of his head.

“Uh-huh” Said Mordred smiling at her as they started moving to the pantry. “He eats some too.”

“Oh yea, I created a monster and it seems he kept the tradition going.” Said Grandma who he could tell was looking around the shelves for certain items. “Were you ever told the story about how your Papa learned to bake.”

“No.” Said Mordred suddenly feeling very curious to hear tales of his parents while being handed chicken stock.

Listening to Grandma as she spoke while cutting carrots made Mordred very happy, since he got to learn new things about his daddies. For example, he knew what kind of chocolates were his daddies’ out-most favorites and that would be useful to him come next month. Then she told him about one particular tale that had him in awe and that was about the day that his daddies had met him for the first time. Since he never truly realized how much they wanted him to be a part of their life until her story explained it to him.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arthur held onto the railing of the stair case as he slowly made his way downstairs to hopeful get something in his system beside slightly burn bread. Since he woke up just a few minutes ago, feeling like he could actually eat something. This was a stark different from the past couple of days were his stomach was too nausea for anything but plain boring toast. 

He trekked into the kitchen with a smile on his lips as he had smelled the aroma of homemade chicken soup from the living room. The kind that his husband usually made when Arthur got ill in the past but must have been too sick as well to do so this time. Thankful, Hunith had been nice enough to take the time to prepare the meal that she had taught to her son years prior.

So, Arthur gently with an oven mitt on his hand lifted the lid to the tall pot that happened to be just sitting on the stove. Which conformed what he had be thinking about, it was the soup that his mouth had been watering for. Therefore, without hesitation, Arthur went to grab a bowl and spoon to partake in the amazing homemade food before it got too cold and needed to be reheated.

“The pasta for that is in the sink.” He heard a voice say and turned to the back door to find his mother-in-law coming in the house with Mordred in tow. “Just wait for me, I’ll make up a bowl for you.”

Arthur not wanting to get on Hunith bad side, did as he was told and placed the tableware on the counter to show her he was listening. He decided instead to help his little knight with the removal of all the winter gear the young man had on. Especially the boots that were usually double laced and seemed to be giving the boy’s fingers trouble.

“Hey buddy, did you have fun outside?” Asked Arthur as he bend down to undo the knot that Mordred had somehow created with the ties.

“Uh-huh, we build snow people” Said his little one now free from snow covered clothing to give him a big hug.

“Don’t forget to tell your daddy about the snow animals.” Said Hunith as she smiled at him while taking the boots as well as the other gear he had been holding.

“We made a cat cause Grandma likes them lots.” Said Mordred as Arthur directed them toward the table area in the room. “But we build a doggy also.”

“Let me guess, it wasn’t an ordinary dog but a Scottie.” Said Arthur as took the tray of the high chair off to allow the boy to sit down.

“Uh-huh” Said the young man grinning at him but not doing as he expected since Mordred was still clinging to him.

“We already ate, Arthur.” Said Hunith as she was returning to the kitchen after placing the coats and such in the hallway.

“Oh, I see.” He said while taking a seat in his chair at the table after Mordred ran to give a hug to his mother-in-law.

He watched Hunith whisper into his little knight’s ear and the boy leaving the room. Arthur figured she wanted to have some time to talk to him alone since he could see Mordred from his spot. For the boy was pulling out some blocks to play with from the toy chest which he knew would keep the young man busy for a bit. 

“Is everything okay?” Asked Arthur as his mother-in-law brought him a steaming bowl of chicken noodle soup. “Mordred not giving you a hard time, is he?”

“We are doing just fine, don’t be so worried.” Said Hunith as she sat down across from him with a smile. “I am quite enjoying this time with my grand-little. You should have called me sooner.”

“What about your job?” Said Arthur knowing for a fact that was one reason his husband had been so stubborn about being sick and not telling her when the first symptoms started. “Don’t you need to go in tomorrow.”

“No, my boss doesn’t mind me taking a few days off. I hardly ever use my two weeks’ vacation as it is.” Said his mother-in-law shaking her head lightly at him. “Actually, I might have to take a holiday in the summer just so I can spend more time with Mordred.”

“Merlin and I want to take him down to the beach.” Said Arthur figuring it couldn’t hurt to have a big family trip this year down to the shore line. “And I’m happy to hear that you are having a good time with Mordred.”

“Oh, he is a delight to be around.” Said Hunith smiling at him again and he swore there was a twinkle in her eyes. “He even told me a story about a prince elf knight, a warlock, and a king.”

This caused Arthur to chuckle as she explained the cute story that his baby had come up with. How a skilled healer who lived in a different kingdom visited the castle were a plaque had been placed upon the two high court members inside. Plus, how her magical tonic that needed to be made with the help of the prince elf knight would save the day and remove the extra sleepy spell that was casted on the warlock and king.


	28. That ball of fuzzy is moving.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mordred is feeling a bit uneasy but then a surprise comes to brighten his day!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Everyone,
> 
> Hope you are all doing well. So, it took forever to get this chapter going and I apology for that. I found out that my main problem is that I do not have my morning thinking time anymore. I use to be the only one in early at work and had the place to my self. However, since the beginning of this year, two of my co-workers started coming in at the same time. Resulting in me being talked to and my ideas being interrupted. However I promise to you all that I will finish this story. No matter how long it takes. So thank you in advance for being patience and sticking with me on this journey. I have never written anything this long and it a true honor for me.
> 
>  Please let me know what you think about this chapter. I apologize for any grammar errors, I do re-read my work several times but mistake sometimes slip past me. Thank you and enjoy!
> 
> In addition, please thank my wonderful beta littlewebby who inspired me to finish this chapter.

February 18th

Mordred felt like everything was finally alright in his world as he sat in the living room moving around his favorite black toy car. For he had both his daddies at home and playing with him at this wonderful moment in time. A feat that hadn’t happen in several days since Daddy had been away on a vital but annoying to him business adventure.

It had been a difficult work week for Papa and him as everything became thrown off balance so to speak. Just the normal things that his daddies did together or help each other had made the time without Daddy harder than usual. Plus, how he for the most part, woke up early in the morning with one of his parents and had a mid-morning snack with the other.

Instead of that, Papa had to get up around 5 to take care of him and get them both ready for work before 7. Since the Tyranny of the company; Uther, had not only made Daddy travel across the country but made his papa go into the office the whole week. This resulting in him being a bit cranky at having to do school work in Daddy’s room on the 16th floor which didn’t always have what he needed or being stuck at daycare in the afternoon instead of at home baking awesome desserts with Papa like they had planned for the week of Valentine’s day.

The only item that kept Papa and him from going insane was a tablet. As they were able to Face-time with the missing member of the family around bedtime which had been three hours earlier for Daddy. Those few minutes at the end of the day were in his opinion the best of the rough days. He had even been able to show Daddy the red glitter heart card that he made for his daddies for February 14th.

Of course, that was all in the past now and he shook his head to stop thinking of the horrible week in order to return to the present. This way he could laugh at the scene in front of him, for Daddy’s red mustang toy car had been pulled over by Papa’s police one. Plus, Mordred saw the smirk that Papa was giving him, meaning their scheme to tickle Daddy was a go.

"Do you know why I pulled you over, Sir?" Said his papa in a serious deep voice that caused him to giggle.

"No, Officer," said Daddy who gave them both a " what are you up to" look or at least that's what it seemed like to him. "But I think Mordred does."

"Does the Sheriff know?" Said Papa giving him a side-ways glance as not to give up their plan.

"Uh-huh" said Mordred who crawled closer to Daddy to be in a better position when the time came to strike.

"Oh, I see" said Daddy who opened arms to invite him in for a cuddle. " I need to stop and give my little knight some love."

"Yep, daddy" Said Mordred figuring a pretend embrace would help aid him in surprising Arthur with the attack.

Then Mordred became so happy to be snuggling with his daddy after Artur had been gone for so long that he decided to forgo the mission all together. Especially when Papa came over to turn the hug into a cuddle fest. Since the feeling of warmth was just too nice that he couldn't imagine disturbing it with the plan of tickling.

Suddenly, a cell phone started going off, ruined the peaceful and tranquil moment they were having. This caused Mordred to frown as he felt a sense of Deja vu from last Saturday were one call had effected everything. Especially since the ring tone playing happened to be from Arthur's mobile device just like it had been a week ago.

However, neither Daddy or Papa made a move for the dancing phone on the coffee table. It even went off a second time but was still left alone to play out the song before finally stopping completely. A sense of relief hit Mordred as he gave a sigh for maybe just maybe whomever had called hadn’t need to reach Daddy so badly.

Unfortunately, the phone in the hallway started ringing, triggering him to let go of his daddy so tightly as he had been. For Mordred knew the landline going off meant only one thing, it was someone important. Like how Aunt Gwen had called a few weeks back to see if Lance could spend the night due to a dental emergency that she needed to be at.

Then, Mordred had a thought that it might be Uncle Percy and Gwaine, causing him to run toward the phone. For Gwaine often called to beg for a play day and it had been quite a while since they had gotten a chance to hang out together. It came to be no surprise to him in his mind if his best friend had been the one who phoned his daddy as Arthur might allow a sleepover were Papa after this crazy week most likely would only agree to a few hours of fun.

Mordred picked it up without hesitation for fear it would go to the answering machine and he didn’t want his friend to think that they had gone somewhere. A smile appeared on his face as he politely said Hello to the unknown caller since he didn’t know other numbers by heart, just daddies and his own. An unknown voice asking for Arthur had him hand the device over to his daddy as Mordred frowned while hoping it wouldn’t take Daddy away from him.

 

Mordred had not been okay with the fact that Daddy had to go out for a bit once Arthur had gotten off the phone with the mystery person. He almost threw a fit while watching the blond-haired man grab the red jacket from the hall but knew it had to be significant for Daddy to leave. Especially since it broke the promise that had been made to him earlier by Arthur, how today would be a Daddy, Papa, and him together day.

Then, just as Papa left him and walk into the kitchen, Mordred started having troubling thoughts. Perhaps the business trip was not as it seemed but something completely different. For Daddy had said before walking out the front door that everything would be explained to him once Arthur returned.

What if Daddy had been looking for another little all week pop inside his mind. After all it had only been two week ago that he, with his daddies’ help had changed his on-line registration to baby little. Maybe, even though Daddy and Papa told him they were completely happy with him changing categories, they really wanted a little who was in the toddler group.

Plus, the timing made perfect sense to him, as it was getting closer to him being here with Arthur and Merlin for ten months. Which was far longer than most of his stays at one place in time and the thought made Mordred feel an ache in his chest at the prospect of it all. Then a part of him reminded him that his Daddy had said I love you and even gave him a kiss on each cheek before leaving.

This caused Mordred to reach for his gold chain which usually sat on top of the clothing that he had been placed in for the day. However, he could not feel the necklace nor remember clearly the last time that it had been on him. Had they removed it one night when he had been asleep or while he was too busy playing to notice.

Without his treasured piece of jewelry for comfort, Mordred nightmare idea felt more realistic to him now. Tears started to form in his eyes as he wondered what would happened to him once a better little came to take his spot, one that was not so needy. A wail escaped him as Mordred knew there would never be another place that he could call “Home”.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Merlin had been in the kitchen, checking to see if he had enough pasta to make a double batch of macaroni and cheese when he heard the cry from his little elf. He, himself was a bit disappointed over the fact that Arthur had to leave the house after being gone for the week. However, Merlin hadn’t realized how upsetting it would be on Mordred until he returned to the living room to find the boy curled up in a ball on the carpet.

“Oh, Sweetheart.” Said Merlin as he sat down next to the young man. “Come and tell Papa what is wrong.”

“Daddy no want me.” Said Mordred looking at him with tear falling onto the boy’s cheeks before crashing into him with a fierce bone -crushing hug.

“Is that why you think he left.” Asked Merlin rubbing the boy’s back for support.

“Uh-huh” said his little one whom was playing with the gold chain around Merlin’s neck.

"Oh, Honey that's not true." Said Merlin placing a kiss on Mordred’s forehead.

He wondering where this idea had come from since Arthur had deeply expressed to them both how much the young man had been missed by his husband. There was even a new snow globe on the bookshelf in the nursery from where his husband had visited as a gift for Mordred. A tradition they had started from the business trip back in October of last year.

Then, Merlin figured that without a reason for why Arthur had all but ran out of the house, their little one had started imaging the worst. Of course, he was in on the secret and knew about the wonderful thing that had his husband so excited to leave without a proper explanation. However, now he had to find a way to clarify to Mordred what was going on without ruining the surprise.

"Daddy went to pick up something very important that we had hoped to give you for Christmas." Said Merlin being as discrete as possible but still telling the truth.

"He getting me a present?" Asked Mordred giving him a confused look.

"Daddy is, the item was sold out so to speak at that time." Said Merlin hoping that if he talked like the mystery was a toy then Mordred wouldn’t catch on to the actual object. "And Daddy just got a call that one was in stock. He had to be as quickly as possible to grab it before someone does "

"Oh.” Said the boy whom tension he could tell had melted away with the enlightenment. “So, Daddy still love me.”

"Yes, sweetheart, he does." Said Merlin happily, feeling like he had saved the day without giving up the secret. “And I do too, very much. Just remember that the next time you are feeling blue.”

"But my chain gone." Mordred said moving away from their cuddle to see that there was indeed no piece of jewelry lying on top of the boy’s sweater.

“Your necklace is missing?!" Said Merlin now understanding why Mordred had been crying such heart-breaking tears.

"Yep, it went bye-bye" Said the young man with a sad look and misty eyes.

"Let Papa check" Said Merlin as he could see a bit of gold near the young man’s neck and wanted to keep the waterworks from starting again.

Since Merlin knew he would not be able to keep the surprise from leaving his lips if he had to deal with more tears. So, he searched in between the sweater and t-shirt which his little elf was wearing and came up luckily. For his hand caught onto the metal necklace and Merlin quickly pulled it up to reveal his find to the young man. Allowing for a smiling to grace his little elf’s face as well as a his own.

 

Merlin closed the door to the closet in the nursery after he retrieved a new box of wipes. He turned around quickly after realizing the little boy whose diaper he had just changed was no longer talking to him about what dessert the young man hoped to make today. This caused him to worry that perhaps Mordred had walked out of the room as the door was opened and Merlin couldn’t recall if it had been that way earlier.

However, instead of what his imagination had come up with of Mordred injured in a corner with a cut-up knee or bumped elbow from running into something. Merlin found Mordred cuddled up with Stormy and Snowy in the crib on top of the green fleece blanket. It was only as he walked over did Merlin hear the soft snoring which let him know that the young man had fallen asleep as well.

Putting up the side to keep the boy from falling out of bed which had happened only one before, Merlin decided to tackle some chores. For he figured it would be difficult to get things done once Arthur got back. Thus, reminded him that there would be things that he need to get out of the master bedroom closet that had been hidden from Mordred like the ceramic paw print bowls.

Merlin groaned as he entered the room he shared with Arthur. For his husband had left the travel baggage completely full of dirty clothing instead of in the laundry basket next to it like he had hoped. Resulting in him having to remove the smelly garments and placing them in the correct location for him to take down stairs to wash.

While grabbing articles of clothing, Merlin would find a worn stuffed animal which had been buried underneath everything else. He smiled down at Shadow whom had traveled with his husband this time around. It had been a highlight of the week to receive pictures of the fuzzy black dog with funny captions and he was certain that Mordred would be quite happy to have the plushy back.

Merlin had walked towards the nursery with Shadow in hand, having the intention of placing Shadow into the crib when he realized that doing so would most likely wake up Mordred. Figuring that the boy wouldn't been napping later today as well as knowing how cranky the young man got, he decided against his earlier idea and moved back toward the master bedroom to grab the laundry basket. Thus, forcing him to have the stuffed dog tucked under his arm as he walked down the stairs.

Once down in the basement and next to the washer, Merlin made sure to keep Shadow save by putting the fuzzy stuffy on top of the dryer. Seeing the dog laying on the recently washed towels, made him realizes that there were other things in which he need to find before Arthur got home. For example, Mordred's Christmas present from Aunt Morgause and Cedric that had been placed in the office area.

After finding the dog bed which had been wedges between Arthur’s desk and a filing cabinet, Merlin positioned it in one of the corners in the living room and found his mug from breakfast on the coffee table. Figuring he could go for another cup, Merlin entered the kitchen, were he put Shadow down on Mordred’s high chair tray. As he reached for the coffee pot did Merlin recall the items upstairs that he had intended to clean.

So, Merlin quickly but quietly ran upstairs to find the dog bowls hidden on the top shelf in the closet, an area which Mordred couldn’t reach nor see. For Arthur and he hadn’t wanted the young man to notice such things for fear it would distress the boy. Especially since, the bed had made their little one a bit upset about the fact that there was no dog around to use it except for Shadow.

When Merlin was drying the ceramic bowls, he looked out the window to the backyard and a smile crossed his face. Since he imagined his little elf running around with the bundle of joy that would be entering their house. Thinking of such, had the gear inside his mind working and he snapped his fingers together. For Merlin had remembered where Arthur had placed the leash and collar they had purchase months prior in the hallway closet inside of an old jacket.

 

Merlin laughs as he noticed Mordred eating the fresh whip cream that had just been created from the mixer. He had received a text from Arthur about two hours earlier stating that operation woof was go. Causing him to realize that once Mordred woke, a distract was going to be needed to keep the young man from noticing the new items around the house. Therefore, the decision from him to make a chocolate trifle with his little elf came to occur.

“Should Papa make more?” Said Merlin to his stained-faced little.

“No, just checking.” Said Mordred who had a spatula in hand and was eating off of it.

“Does it taste good?” Asked Merlin taking the bowl from the young man to try a dollop knowing very well that this whip cream was going to end up in their stomach instead of the dessert.

“Uh-huh” said Mordred as the young man went to take another scoop of the concoction. "Yummy!!"

Merlin could only agree with his little prince while wondering if he actually had enough ingredients for another batch of whip cream. Perhaps, they might just have to eat vanilla ice cream with the chocolate cake. Since from the way things were going, it was likely what they would be having for dessert and he know for a fact that his husband would not mind that at all.

Of course, just as he thought of Arthur did Merlin heard the roar of an engine. The revving of the red Mustang let him know to get Mordred ready for what was going to be come thought the front door. So, he quickly grabbed a face cloth to clean the boy's messy face and hands as well as let Mordred out of the high chair the young man was sitting in.

"I'm home" Merlin heard Arthur say as he helped Mordred to a standing position.

Luckily for him, Merlin was able to grab the young man’s hand to hold and walk briskly to keep up with the excited little as they moved toward the living room. Then he almost bumped into Mordred when the boy came to a halt at the sight of what Arthur was holding. For his husband was cuddling a black Scottie puppy that yawned, showing them both that it was no stuffed animal.

"My present?!" Said Mordred who looked to him to be in a bit shock and he noticed the young man pinch an arm.

"Yes, Sweetheart." Said Merlin who could sense the boy's hesitation causing him to push the young man towards the pup. " We wanted to give you this present for quite some time."

"And we know it's a big commitment, Buddy "Said his husband who he saw allow Mordred to pet the puppy." However, we are willing to take it on, because we love you"

“Thank you.” Said the young man and the rare occasion occurred were Mordred was as a whole showing them gratitude. “Thank you so much.”

Merlin could only grin as he watched the young man carefully take the puppy from his husband. Merlin stole a quick glance at Arthur and realized even the blond-haired man was smitten with the fuzzy blank creature already. Of, course he knew there would be more work for him to do around the house now but figured it would be all worth it in the end. For he got to view the majestic moment in front of him, of Mordred placed a soft kiss on the puppy’s head with eyes filled with pure love.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Arthur sighed from a chair at the kitchen table as he drank a cup of coffee to warm up. He had just been outside shoveling some snow to make a walking path for the puppy in the backyard. His husband happened to be puttering around him, work on dinner and Arthur was glad to hear the familiar noises that he had missed by being away for a week. Especially the giggling of his little knight whom he could see running around the living room.

He watched as the puppy yapped and chased after Mordred, causing him to smirk in happiness. For in his mind, Arthur could recall the long difficult journey that it took to get to this wonderful point in time. How there had been so many ups and downs, far harder than either him or Merlin could have ever imagined when they had first begun it.

The mission for a Scottish Terrier had started months before Mordred came to live with them. Yes, his husband and he, had a grand image that a puppy or dog would have been there to greet the young man upon entering their home for the first time. A foolish delusion on their part but only because they hadn’t known how tough it would be to find what they were looking for at that moment.

There had been sleepless nights on both Merlin and his part, searching on the internet. From shelter websites to group homes for dogs to find the one that would feel right to them. However, no matter how many pictures they looked at or sad stories that made them cry and wish to do more. There never came the moment which made them both pointed out as well as say that’s ours.

Then Morgause who always seemed to know the correct path to follow suggested that they should be looking up breeders. Of course, it hadn’t been as forthcoming and had taken them a few weeks to decode. Yet, that had caused the wheel to be set in motion, for they would find a website with videos, pictures, and testimony that made them feel that they were finally heading in the right direction.

Arthur had been the one who called the number that Merlin had scribbled down off the website to speak to a kind woman on the phone. To him, she was very passion about making sure Merlin and he knew what they would be getting into and that owning a dog was a big life changer. At that point, they set up a meeting, for any good breeder as the woman told him, allowed people interested in puppies to actually see the parents. Plus, there would be an interview of sorts, to find out more about why his husband and he were interested in a puppy.

At the gathering, Arthur would find a dog sleeping on his lap whom trusted in him after a short amount of ear scratching. This led him to believed that there would be no problem with being accepted by the woman. For he had seen her smiling at him while answering his husband’s inquiries and oh, how Merlin was trying to be the top student by taking notes.

Then when it came to being questions, he took the lead to answer. Since Arthur had been around dogs most his life and even took care of the ones his father had brought him as presents. Then, Merlin had surprised him by having knowledge he did not know about like certain brands of dog food being better than others. Which gave them a nod of approval that they would indeed make wonderful pet parents and a place on her list.

Of course, Arthur and his husband had no idea what number they were nor how long it would take. For they had been naive in thinking that puppies just magically came to be in the sense of things. That in a matter of weeks or even a month, there would be a fuzzy ball of fur which they could take home and claim as their own.

This fact had been silly on their part, as he nor Merlin had not known there was a cycle. How a female dog had to go into heat first which only occurred every six months or so. Then, if the mother did get pregnant, then there were 62 days before puppies came to be born. In addition, smaller breeds like a Scottie could have an average of four pups at a time, resulting in a longer wait then they had original imagined.

Then like always when it came to life in general, minutes became hours that turned into days which grow into months. Especially when a certain little became a part of their family which made time speed along quite quickly in his opinion. Causing Arthur to be caught off guard when he received a text out of the blue in October from the breeder about the mommy dog being pregnant.

November brought them even more good news that had Merlin and him ever so hopeful as well as excited. For there had been an ultrasound at the veterinarian which showed five puppies. This meant they were closer to the goal that maybe just maybe a little fuzzy creature would be theirs to have this time around. Even better was that it would be born during the magical month of the year, December.

Unfortunately for Arthur and his husband when the due date came, the breeder had to break it to them that only four small balls of fur had been born. Which remind Arthur of the old saying to never count your chickens before they hatched or in his case, puppies. It had been a bitter pill to shallow but Merlin had been there to tell him, there would another chance and they would still make Mordred’s first Christmas, the best one the boy had ever had.

However, it seemed like luck had finally graced his family, for someone above them on the list had decided to not take a puppy. From what the breeder had told him when he had gotten to her house, the person had appeared to be hesitant with playing with the pup during the last visit, a few weeks back. That being presented with the real deal had put in perspective how much work there was going to be to raise a dog.

The breeder explained how it had only been today, the day the eight-week-old fuzzy creatures would be going to their forever home, that the other person had given up their spot. Therefore, resulting in the sudden call to him, hoping the runt of the litter wouldn’t be left without a family to call its own. Which Arthur was more grateful to be given the opportunity for since he could see nothing wrong with the adorable puppy that Mordred had named Maxwell.

"Daddy" he heard which brought him out of his thought to find Mordred with the puppy lying peaceful in the boy's arm.

"Yes, Love?" He asked worried that perhaps something was wrong.

"Food for Max?" Questioned the young man gazing in the direction of the refrigerator.

"Oh" Said Arthur as he turned around to find a bowl on the soft paw print mat next to the icebox. "Merlin!!"

"No need to shout, Prat. I'm right here." Said his husband come into his line of sight and giving him a dirty look.

"Oh well, you forgot to give the puppy some kibble." Said Arthur pointing to the bowl on the floor.

"That's the water bowl, cabbage head." Said Merlin who he noticed was heading towards the beeping microwave. "I heated some wet food for Maxwell that I'm going to mix with his dry food."

"Oh" Said Arthur and he heard Mordred say the same thing at the exact moment as him.

"It was recommended to do this by the booklet that the breeder made us." Said Merlin showing the papers before walking towards the kitchen counter with the warmed food.

"I help?" Asked Mordred who he watched place Maxwell gently down onto the tile flooring.

"Of course, sweetheart." Said his husband who he watched hand over a spoon to the boy

Arthur noticed the pup scamper over toward the working duo with a wagging tail letting him know everything was going to be okay. Yes, their life was going to be different but in a good way, he figured as he got up from his chair to join the group. He even placed a kiss on his husband’s cheek in a roundabout apology for his attitude earlier to show solidarity as Merlin and he got to witness their little feed Maxwell for the very first time.

 

Arthur felt Mordred’s head rest on his shoulder while they were in the middle of their traditional Saturday night movie. Looking over towards Merlin, he saw the puppy lying near his little knight dozing away. It seems to him that the young man and pup had tuckered each other out. Which meant he needed to get moving if a bath for Mordred was going to happen tonight. Especially since his husband and he had decided to forgone one last night as he had just arrived home.

"I think someone is ready for bed." Said Arthur as he found the remote to stop the movie.

"Not tired." Said Mordred who sat up quickly but was rubbing one eye to conform his suspicions. "want to stay up and play more with Max"

"Maxwell need to rest too, Love." Arthur said as he guided the young man to look at the slumbering pup. "It's been a busy day for him, Buddy."

"Don't want to sleep." Whined Mordred whom he could see was getting misty eyed.

"Oh, Sweetheart. Don't cry." Said his husband as Merlin started rubbing the boy’s back. “You can play with the puppy in the morning."

"But I Dreaming" Said the young man given them a scared expression.

"Oh, love" Said Arthur once he understood what was going on with Mordred. "You are not imagining this. Maxwell is here with us and we are his forever home"

"Really?" Said Mordred as the boy seemed calmed by his words or at least that how it appeared to him.

"Daddy and I will pinky promise." Said Merlin who already had an extended little finger out towards the boy.

Knowing that it would be best in the long run, Arthur nodded when the young man turned to him to see if he would agree to the oath. Thus, they all clasped pinkies fingers before Mordred allowed any movement away from the living room as well as the puppy. The only thing that derailed them for a moment as they climbed the stairs, was a soft whine from Maxwell, who obviously had yet to learn how to master steps.

Luckily for him, his husband picked up the black fuzzy ball to accompany them toward the nursery. A smile appeared on Merlin face as his husband caught up with Mordred and him. This made Arthur knew there and then that even his husband was smitten with the pup. Something that had worried him before, especially since Merlin had never shown interest in a pet before. Now however, he could see just how much love the puppy was already receiving from all of them. Showing that they were indeed going to have a wonderful time with the puppy in their life.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mordred was awoken with a jolt due to something cold hitting his stomach since he had been sleeping on his side. He quickly opened his eyes and looked toward the chilly sensation to find Maxwell snuggling up to him. Apparently, the pup had just come in from the snowy weather of outdoor and was seeking a heat source.

Petting the puppy made him smile softly while he grabbed some of his green fleece to cover Maxwell with. Part of him was still in disbelieve that this was true, that there really happened to be a Scottish Terrier lying next to him. To him, if felt like an honor to have the fuzzy creature and he was ever so thankful to his parents for allowing him to have one.

He noticed that the puppy’s chest was rising and falling softly as it started to snore quietly. A feeling of bliss came over him then as he watched Maxwell snoozing. For didn’t the saying go that happiness was a warm puppy to cuddle with and a soft blanket or at least that what Mordred thought as he started to drift to sleep.


	29. Birthday cake is Awesome.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to celebrate Mordred's birthday!!! 
> 
> P.S. This is a multi-day chapter. It starts on the day of Mordred's party and end on Mordred's actual birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Everyone!!!
> 
> Hope you are all doing well! Thank you so much for sticking with me with this story. Only one more chapter after this one!!!I just wanted to remind you all that you are wonderful people. That I could not have gotten this far without seeing so many kudos, comments, hits, or bookmarks. This is a labor of love and I appreciate your support.
> 
> In addition, don't forget to thank my beta littlewebby who has helped me so much. She is amazing!!!

March 25th (Day of Mordred’s Birthday Party)

Arthur entered the nursery with an image in his head that his little knight would be stirring and happy to see him. Especially since, it was the day of Mordred’s birthday party which Arthur figured meant the boy should be excited to begin the day. However, he found the young man still dozing away the early morning hour while cuddling not just one but all three stuffed animals. 

Deciding it would best to stay in the room than make more noise leaving, Arthur moved a stack of clothes off the rocking chair onto the floor cautious below. This allowed him a place to seat and to keep his husband from getting anger at him for messing up the carefully planned birthday outfit. For it was a nice calm before the chaos so to speak to sit as well as take in the view of a sleeping little one.

He completely understood, how it might have been a tad presumptuous on his part to assume that Mordred would be awake. Given the fact that Merlin and he had keep the boy up late last night even with their valid reason. He had been quite foolish in thinking a few hours of sleep was all his little knight needed after what had transpired the day before.

Since yesterday, his baby was forced by an evil professor to stay in red card mood until seven at night. Due to a math exam which happened to be worth one-third of the boy’s grade had been given at that specific time on-line. Something that Merlin and he had tried to get changed as Mordred had trouble getting past 2:00 p.m. without going from adult to little. 

However, the teacher refused to compromise as it had been on the schedule for months. A over-site on their part as well as Mordred who had only seen the seven, not the actual time of day. Forcing his husband to find creative ways to keep the young man in red card mood during the afternoon while going over problem similar to what would be on the test. Like Merlin’s smart decision of playing music that they knew would annoy the little side of Mordred.

Then came the problem of what to do after the exam had been taken by his little knight. For the young man was animate and bubbly talking to them about the problem on the assessment. Especially since the boy had gotten a great score as the number 93 had pop up on the computer screen once the test had been completed. 

Thus, resulting in Mordred even at nine at night to be wide eye, full of energy, and stressing them slight as the boy was still in adult mood. An oddity to them in the eleven months of living with the young man as well as a concern on what to do. For Arthur and his husband had never dealt with a red card Mordred at bedtime before. 

Since the young man at that particular time during most days was usually tired and almost half asleep. Something which caused a light bulb to turn on inside his head as he looked over at the worried face of his husband. As he recalled from past experience how a sleepy Mordred often brought about a green card to be placed on the coffee table. 

So, Arthur pushed Merlin into the hallway as they had still been in the office, to figure out a plan quietly, while Mordred happily running around with a bouncing Maxwell. They quickly discussed way to get their little to be drowsy enough to slip down in mood, even if it was just to yellow. For they didn’t want to waste too much time as they both wanted a rested young man for the next day.

The first idea that they agreed might work on solving the problem of an over energetic boy happened to be to take the puppy for a walk in the backyard. As it could help with calming down the fuzzy ball of fur as well. Since Maxwell had been sitting most of the day patiently waiting for Mordred to finally have the chance to play.

However, only the pup would return from the outside weary, as it seemed the fresh air had only invigorated Mordred. Forcing Merlin and him to think of another notion on getting the revved up and ready to go young man to relax. So, a short film which had a 30 minutes run-time called “The Snowman” came to be shown in the living room to try to get the boy’s over working brain time to wind down. 

This course of action only resulted in a change of subjects to happen, from complicated math problems to the movie. Making Arthur wonder if they should just deal with the situation at hand as the clock on his phone read 11p.m. For at that moment, he felt it might be easier to send the boy to bed instead of trying to push for the green card statues to occur. Therefore, Arthur declared it was time to get ready for dreamland while turning off the television. 

It was then that the boy spoke up almost in a pout about wanting to have warm milk as well as a few cookies first as they hadn’t been given the opportunity to have dessert earlier. Of course, that happened to be the solution that Arthur and his husband had been searching for to get Mordred's head space to little. As that food combination caused the boy to become drowsy right in front of their very eyes and the words of Papa and Daddy slipping into the conversation only proved it.

 

Arthur groaned as he opened his eyes while covering a yawn with his hand. His neck felt quite sore from being in the odd angle that it had been at and his back was screaming in pain. Telling Arthur that he must have fallen asleep in the rocking chair that he had been sitting in. As he took in the Kelly green colored wall that was across the room from him which could only confirmed that it was indeed the nursery.

"Papa, Daddy woke up" Arthur heard Mordred say as he turned his head to find the boy coming toward him.

"Oh, did he now" said Merlin who he noticed was standing at the changing table and mostly likely from what he could see was tidying up.

"Uh-huh" said Mordred who smiled at him as the boy got closer. "Morning Daddy"

"Good morning, Love." Said Arthur as he got up and stretching to get out the kinks.

"Don’t forget to tell Daddy about what we making for breakfast" said his husband who looked over at him with a concern face which Arthur knew meant a conversation about why he was found here would need to be had later.

“Waffles” Said Mordred while giving him a hug.

“Let me guess.” Said Arthur as he returned the gesture by embracing the young man “There will be peanut butter and bananas on yours?"

“Yep.” Said Mordred muffled as the boy had snuggled in closer to him. 

"Well, I’m sure they will be yummy. " said Arthur as he kissed the boy's head before changing the subject to get a feel for the day. "Are you excited for this afternoon, buddy?"

"Uh-huh" Said the young man suddenly breaking free from him in a burst of enthusiasm to show the pile of clothes for the party later. "Gonna have Cake and lots of fun"

That's right, Love" said Arthur who tickled Mordred and got a giggle in return.

Seeing Mordred’s reaction caused the tension that Arthur had felt earlier this morning, wash away from him in waves. For he could tell while watched a happy Mordred with Maxwell in tow, that his vision so far hadn’t come true. The one of a tearful little who had such a horrible birthday or time at the party, so much so to swear to never celebrate again.

The main reason he had come into the nursery after such a rough dream to make sure that wasn’t reality but just a nightmare. Especially since he, himself hadn't celebrating nor cared about his birthday. Of course, that was until Merlin had come along to show him how parties were about having fun. Something he realize was definitely going to happen today. For he wanted to make sure that Mordred had the best first birthday party with them to fill a whole scrape book full of memories.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Merlin entered the rented hall which they had gotten for Mordred’s party with a vegetable tray in hand. His husband and he had originally wanted to have the celebration at home as they weren’t sure how Mordred would handle the event. However, even if it had just been family and friends, the house would have been too small to hold so many people Especially since the weather turned out to be too cold for any outside activity. 

Therefore, the easy solution had been to find an indoor place where everyone wouldn’t be standing elbow-to-elbow while trying to talk or eat. Luckily, a local building that people reserved for many occasions had been available this weekend and happened to be only a few minutes away from them. A plus for him, as Merlin had several platters of food to deal with and a long drive was never good to travel alone with.

For Merlin had left Arthur at home to nap with Mordred while he got refreshment and such for the party ready. This way, the young man would be well rested for the banquet as well as surprised to see the decor that Gwen and he had secretly made. As Merlin and his husband had not gone into any details about the theme with Mordred. 

Of course, many of their friends especially Gwaine who had figured it out first, knew about the event have to do with their story which Arthur and him figured had to be in a sort of Arthurian time period. That Halloween costumes would be playing a role again which he didn’t mind at all, just no white wig or beard this time around. For those had been quite a pain for him to deal with and Mordred didn’t particular like that he hadn’t looked like himself.

Just as he placed the tray down on a white table-cloth counter, did Merlin realize that someone else was already here. Since the door had been opened, the lights had been on, and the room already had been somewhat assembled with the serving tables. Causing him to go searching for the person while pondering of whom it might be as he hadn’t seen any cars outside in the parking lot.

“Hello?” Said Merlin cautiously with phone in hand as he opened the door to a small kitchen area that was just off to the side of the main room.

“There you are.” Said his Aunt Alice to Merlin’s dismay while she was chopping up fruit. “We thought you said be here for one.”

“No, I’m so sorry. The party starts at two.” Merlin said as he greeted her with a hug and got a kiss on the cheek. “How did you get in?” And where is Gaius?”

“Oh, the owner, such a lovely young woman named Aithusa I think, let me in.” Said Alice who smacked his hand away from the strawberry he was going to grab. “And your silly uncle forgot his costume, so he had to go back home to grab it.”

“The two of you didn’t have to do that.” Said Merlin who hadn’t realized his family was going to get into the theme of the banquet as well. “I’m sure Mordred will just be happy to see you here.”

“Don’t be silly, we want to make this party, the absolute best for that little of yours.” Said Alice who stopped what she was doing to show off her outfit “Beside you are going to need a Court Physician and his assistant, in case anyone is hurt or get a tummy ache from all the wonderful food.”

Merlin gave her a hug and was so thankful to have such brilliant people in his life. He figured his aunt and uncle had checked in a roundabout way by asking Arthur to what Mordred would have them be if they were in the story of the king, warlock, and prince elf. Apparently, it seemed since they took care of them in the health department, their roles would be similar in the world of theirs that they had created with Mordred.

 

Merlin had been putting up the last of the coat-of-arms shields decorations that Gwen and he had researched on line, when he heard the door being opened. He looked toward it to find one of his childhood friends, Will entering with a woman whom he vaguely remembered dressed as a fairy. Slowly he made his way down the ladder to greet them as it would be just like him to get injured doing something simple.

He welcomed the pair with a hug while thanking them for being so generous with their time to come. As Will was going to be a jester of sort by making balloon animals and now that he recalled their conversations, that Vivian, Will's girlfriend was going to do face painting. He was ever so grateful to have friend even ones who he didn't get to hang out with as often as he liked but was always there when needed, helping with the party.

Of course, it was quite comical when Vivian asked if he was dressed as a servant. For Merlin hadn't realized he was still in his outfit of a worn blue shirt and dark tan pants which he normally wore while cleaning the house. Realizing that he most likely did look the part she was speaking of, Merlin told her that at the moment he was but there would be a magical reveal later, around the time of the celebration.

 

Wishing that they had a marvelous time, Merlin left the pair to get set-up before party guest started to arrive. Especially as Merlin hadn’t realized how long it had really been since he had gotten to the hall and more people would be arriving soon. Plus, he wanted to meet his mother as he could see her come toward the entrance. So, he quickly opened the door to allow her access. For like usually she had, in his opinion grabbed too much from her car at once.

“Good Afternoon, my boy.” Said Hunith, while he took some things from her before it all tumbled to the floor like he could see happening. “Where is my grand-little?”

“Arthur and he will be coming shortly.” Said Merlin as they walked to the severing tables to place down the pasta and chicken warm trays that she had made up for the gathering. 

“Are you going to be the man-servant for this party or something?” Asked his mother, giving him a once over before a hug and kiss on his cheek.

“Don’t be silly.” Said Merlin shaking his head at people thinking he was already in costume while returning her embrace. “I’m the warlock in the story, remember.”

“Well, mister magical being, you should conjure a spell to change your wardrobe.” Said Hunith patting him on the back while in a nonchalant way guiding his vision to the fact that guests were indeed entering the hall. “After all I’m just the healer, I can only hold people off so long before they will want to see Merlin the magnificent.”

He could only roll his eyes at his mother who took off to greet the earlier attendees while he searched for the bag that he was sure had his costume inside. Luckily, he found his messenger bag quickly, next to the end of the serving table and free from any harm. Allowing him to dash toward the door with the restroom sign in order to become the mighty warlock that for strange reason, Mordred had started to call Emrys.

 

The group that arrived sooner that the starting time of two in the afternoon, turned out to be Gwen, Lance, Gwaine, and Percy. Which he was happy to have as they had been able to help him with completing his task of making an area for eating with round tables and enough chairs to fit the several people that would be coming. Plus, they were able to leave a good amount of open space devoted to littles.

A blanketed section with various colored soft fleeces for those littles who were more into the soft things in life. A craft area which would allow for coloring of pictures that he had printed out of knights and princesses placed next to the station that Vivian had set-up as it would allow littles something to do while waiting, which Gwen had smartly thought of in his opinion. Lastly a spot that let littles joust with soft wool felt swords that he would make sure an adult was overseeing at all times.

 

Merlin was just about to call his husband to let Arthur know that the party was all set and they could venture over. When he heard Papa being called from a voice that he knew all too well. So, he stopped checking the boombox that was going to be used for musical chairs later to find his little elf knight prince running toward him in tears.

“What’s wrong, Sweetheart?” He asked suddenly wondering if it had been all too much for his little one. “Do you not like the party decorations?”

“No, Papa.” Said Mordred rushing into his open arms to give him a bone-crushing hug. “Happy. Very happy.”

“Oh, these are joyful tears.” Said Merlin as Mordred let up on the hold on him allowing him to see the boy’s face, smiling back at him.

“Uh-huh. Love it.” Said Mordred as he took a Kleenex from the pocket of his rope to wipe the young man’s face.

“Well I’m so glad to hear that, Honey.” Merlin said as he placed a kiss on the now clean cheek of Mordred’s. 

“Daddy is too.” Said his husband who joined them into a love fest and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. 

Merlin could only feel a glow of happiness at his two knights in soft sweaters and the red capes with gold dragons on the back. For he knew that no matter what happened during the celebration, they would remember this wonderful moment of togetherness. Especially since he knew that Gwen had been taken pictures around the hall of the decorations and he was sure that she had just captured one of them.

 

Merlin believed that the party was a big success so far as he sat down to enjoy a plate of warm food. For there had yet to be a tantrum by any of the littles, a big sign that everyone was having fun. Plus, the adults seem to be enjoying themselves as well. As he saw a few had their faces painted and Merlin noticed some like his husband were play fighting in the jousting area.

Even when the games had been played, everything had gone over extremely well . Mordred had won the egg toss with Arthur and took a plastic ring for a prize. His sister-in-law had beat the others at the “Simon says” or more like Gwen says which allowed Morgana to win a princess crown. The last game had been taken by Lance who wanted a soft plastic sword, came in first in the 50-meter crawl race. 

So, Merlin figured there would be no issue when it came time for the dragon piñata. However, when Gwaine took a swing and hit a sweet spot, causing candy to be released. He hadn’t imaged that Mordred would just stand next to Arthur instead of going for the treasured items hitting the covered mat on the floor below like the others.

“Mordred, Honey.” Said Merlin going over to his little boy whom had an empty goodie bag. “Did you not want any of the candy?”

“Are you upset that the dragon got ruined?” Asked his husband when Mordred didn’t reply to him.

“For me guest.” Said Mordred looking up at them with puzzled eyes.

“I’m sorry love, I must have confused you with the rules.” Said Arthur giving him a concerned look at they both could see the mat was completely empty.  
“You were only supposed to wait for your turn to hit the piñata, not the candy, buddy.”

“You can have some of mine, Mor.” Said Gwaine who came towards them with a quite full container to show Mordred. “I got lots.”

“That’s very kind of you but not necessary.” Said Merlin to his little’s best friend as he, himself came up with an idea to solve their problem. “Close your eyes, sweetheart and hand me your bag”

“Otay, papa.” Said Mordred before doing as he asked.

“Hocus pocus, alakazam. Turn this goodie bag’s owner from sad to glad.” Said Merlin as he switched out the empty plastic container with a full one that he had in his pocket.

For Merlin had made extra bags for any little who hadn’t been able to participate in the activity. Since he wanted everyone to feel included which led him to placing a few goodie bags in his robe's pocket right before the event occurred. So that Merlin could hand them out after all the chaos had finished as if the candy had really come from the dragon piñata.

“Papa did magic.” Said Mordred as the boy’s eyes opened once Merlin had placed the heavier than the empty bag into the young man’s hand.

Merlin could only laugh lightly as he watched Mordred show off the enchanted bag to Arthur and then Gwaine. Then he witnessed the bright glow of happiness on his little’s face as the boy skipped away towards the balloon station, causing him to grin. For all Merlin could hope for, was that Mordred came away from this party with magical moments of joy.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

 

Mordred wanted cakes so much so that he didn’t put up a fuss when Daddy placed him in a high-chair, stopping his fun of sword fighting with Gwaine. Nor did he get all whiny at Papa for removing his red cape and chain mail like sweater. He even allowed Grandma to put a bib that said birthday boy over his head without trying to move away or remove the garment once it was on him.

He stared at the chocolate cake covered in chocolate frosting with green icing saying “Happy birthday” while Daddy comically try but failed to light the candles with matches. Which caused Papa to bring out a lighter that like magic quickly made it seem like sparkling lights were hover above the cake. Thus, allowing everyone to start singing and it made his eye water with they got to the dear part. For it was an awe-struck moment to hear anyone say his name and remember that this was all done from him.

Of course, pictures had to be taken once the candles were blown out and the clapping died down. So, he had to wait as patiently as one could with a cake just begging to be eaten as well as in his reach. This forced him to watch as Papa slowly took a few waxed sticks out before deciding enough was enough as Mordred grabbed a handful of cake.

Putting the dessert in his mouth caused quite a stir as he saw more flashes from people's phones and cameras. Mordred even heard some “aww” coming from the crowd as he went for another handful. This confused him as it wasn’t like he was doing anything particular interesting, just having some sweet delicious birthday treat.

Then it hit him that perhaps this was the only cake and maybe using his hands wasn't such a good idea. For Mordred couldn’t remember Papa baking these one nor if the warlock had made any others. So, he nervously looked at his daddies to see how they were going to fix the issue that he had just caused. However, he would find them both just smiling at him instead of looking upset or worried.

“It’s fine, Love.” Said his daddy in his ear while encouraging him to continue by putting hand closer to the dessert. “Papa made a few sheet cakes for everyone else. This one is all yours.”

“Otay,” said Mordred as he took off a big chunk of the dessert to place into his mouth.

“Does it yummy, Honey?” Asked Papa, who had finished removing the candles.

Mordred could only reply with a nod as his mouth was too full to speak. He did try to offer some of his wonderful dessert to his daddies, grandma, and Gwaine but it seemed everyone else were vanilla kind of people. For that was what the type of cake that he mostly saw being carried on tiny plates towards the round tables by people. 

Which didn’t bother him at all, for it just meant in his opinion that his daddies were awesome for making sure he got the kind of cake that he liked the best. Plus, it felt like a huge honor to have such wonderful parent who would go thought all the trouble to make sure the party was incredible. This caused Mordred to break out in a big smile at his parents who he loved so much. 

 

March 29th (Mordred’s Birthday)

 

Mordred was quite disturbing in the fact that he was up so early this morning. Especially since he was being dressed by Daddy and could see Papa making his bed. This led Mordred to think that having both his parents awake as well as them getting him ready to leave the house, only meant one thing to him. They were heading to the office and if that was the case he was going to be really sad.

For it was a place that he rather not be at, as today was his birthday and spending it at the daycare was not how he has envisioned his special day. No, Mordred had in his mind, imagined waking with his daddies to have pancakes for breakfast. Which would like most days lead him to cuddling with the one that was staying home to be with him all day. Then a celebration with hopeful more yummy cake to occur later.

However, it seemed there were other plans in the works that they were not going to tell him about. As his daddies were extremely quiet and he figured maybe they didn’t want to ruin whatever surprise they had planned. He could only hope it involved stopping somewhere for their morning meal. As it seemed both his parents were in such a hurry today, they left the house without a morsel of food in their tummies. 

Of course, Mordred felt silly with his weird thinking when his daddy parked the car. For they were right across the street from the diner and he really should have known. That Aunt Morgause would have demanded his presence for a birthday breakfast celebration. Especially since they had done it to him last year and she was one for traditions being kept.

Aunt Morgause greeted him at the door with a balloon before ushering his parent and him to what was considered their usual table. Even though they didn't come as often as his daddies had before he became a part of their life. He figured everyone would always consider it a special spot as it had been the area in which he had first met his wonderful daddies.

Then Mordred saw her with a tray that had to be their order as only they got a whole full pot of coffee and his face light up. For he could just about see the lighted candles that meant she had made him the birthday special. Which consisted of three chocolate Pancakes with chocolate chips and rainbow sprinkles in the batter as well as whip cream on top.

Suddenly, everyone started singing and clapping making his cheeks turn bright red. For it wasn’t just his daddies and Auntie Morgause but the whole diner. This caused him to fumble with trying to blow out all twenty-one candles at once. For being the main focus of the room was strange to him when there were people he didn’t know staring at him.

Obviously, hearing the cheers when all the wax sticks were out, made him beam and redder in the face if it was even possible. Luckily, no one in the diner lingered as his daddy pulled out the candles but instead returned to their food and conversations. Which let him breathe a sigh of relief as he waited for his papa to cut up some piece of his mouse shaped breakfast. 

While chewing on the most amazing chocolate pancakes ever, Mordred felt so thrilled to be celebrating his birthday in such a marvelous way. So, he decided to show his appreciation by allow his parent each a piece of his tasty bacon. Of course, he knew that wasn't enough to show his true feeling about how fantastic they had made his birthday to be so he made sure to shower them with hugs and kisses.

 

Mordred was rolling a small green ball to Maxwell in the hallway so this way the toy wouldn’t disappear under the coffee table or entertainment stand and be lost to them both. When he heard his name being called out from what he thought was the kitchen. This caused him to get up from his sitting position with puppy in tow, to walk toward the direction where he figured his daddies would be. For he couldn't think of a reason why they wanted him at the moment.

Upon entering the room, Mordred found Papa and Daddy grinning at him and they appeared to be in a giddy mood. Which made him slight nervous for a second, especially since there was a blindfold in his daddy's hand. However, he knew they had a surprise as Papa had let it slip earlier at the diner. So, Mordred didn't hesitate to join them near the back door.

Once his eyes were covered and he couldn't see, did his parent guide him outside. Feeling a sense of excitement, Mordred knew whatever it was, he would like it very much so. After all, he always loved anything that was given to him by Arthur and Merlin. 

Then, as his eye adjusted to the bright sun shine, did Mordred notice what in the backyard had changed. For there in the middle of the yard, stood a wooden swing set which looked to him to be quite similar to Gwaine. That meant it had been made by his best friend and Uncle Percy. However, he could see that this one had a monkey bar section, made especially for him apparently.

Not knowing any words to describe how fantastic a gift it was, Mordred tearfully hugged his daddies. Since saying thank you a million times didn't feel to him to been enough. For they had truly made his birthday the greatest one he had ever had.


	30. The wish star has already been redeemed.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a full year since Mordred has come to live with Merlin and Arthur in their world. How things have changed so much since then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Everyone!
> 
> I hope you are all doing well! Please enjoy this last chapter. It was a work of love, sweat, stress, and fun for me. 
> 
> I can't thank you all enough for being on this journey with me. This is my first complete story and I'm grateful for all of your support.
> 
> Please let me know if there are any tags missing or spelling mistakes.

April 23th

Merlin could hear a voice poetically speaking but it was more of a background noise to him at the moment. For he happened to be browsing the shelves of the book store they were in and was not close enough to fully hear the words of the story being told. Since he had wandered off, to find a new bedtime story, something that he had not already read a million times to his little prince as well as knew by heart.

He took a quick peek to his left at his little elf who sat on a soft rug and seemed bewitched by what the author of the book at story time was saying. As the owner of the shop assumed when Arthur, Mordred, and he had entered that they were there for the special event. Which Merlin figured had to be due to the binky the boy had, since the particular book had been written for littles by a new up-in-coming novelist.

However, Arthur and he had not planned to come into the book store nor knew about this once a month occasion. They were just casually walking by the store, on their way back to his SUV after having a wonderful mini festivity breakfast at the Queen Witch diner. When his husband tapped him on the shoulder to show him the new bestseller mystery novel by their favorite author in the window as they strolled along the sidewalk.

The book sat already in his basket, as it had been grabbed by him before the event started. As Merlin felt it would be a shame to come in for one specific item and then forget all about it. Especially since their baby wouldn’t let go of his husband’s hand when other littles with caretakers came over to see if Mordred was excited about the “Meet the author” which hadn’t allowed Arthur the chance to even locate the novel.

So, he had been the one able to walk around the book store without being bothered, while his husband had to schmooze with the other caretakers. Even as he picked up a story about a baby dragon who didn’t want to go to bed, Merlin could still see Arthur being talked to by a parent in a hush whisper. That had him grin as he could tell by his husband’s smile, Arthur was amused by the conversation.

Therefore, Merlin started thinking that maybe just maybe, they should do more caretakers and littles events. As it would be great to get to talk with other who were going thought similar situations. For today, they were celebrating their first year together as a family of three and he did have concerns with what the future held with them going into the next.

Merlin decided to head back toward the group of people when he had a few bedtime stories in his basket. He realized then that the writer had finished with the story and was sitting behind a desk with pen in hand ready to sign books. This caused him to look around for his husband and little one as Merlin couldn’t seem to spot Mordred within the line of littles that had formed to wait to get a moment with the author.

“Papa!” He heard as he felt arms of his baby elf wrap around him from his side.

“Hi, Honey.” Said Merlin while turning his head to take in Arthur standing nearby as he returned the young man’s hug. “Did you like the story?”

“Uh-huh.” Said Mordred who smiled at him while letting go from their cuddling to point at Arthur. “Daddy got it.”

“Oh, I see.” Merlin said, noticing the large paperback book in his husband’s hand.

“We still have to purchase it.” Said Arthur smirking at him while showing the page with the signed autograph. “My charm with the others parents worked well, we were the first in line.”

“Just put it in the basket, you prat.” Said Merlin shaking his head at his husband’s antics.

“You’re just jealous that you missed my smooth talking.” Said Arthur smugly to him with a wink.

“I sure am.” Said Merlin rolling his eyes at his husband while placing the basked which was getting heavy down. “Especially if those were the same ones you tried to use on me when we first started dating.”

“Oh, come on. Those won you over.” Said his husband coming over and putting him in a bear hug. “Just admit it.”

Merlin could only laugh at Arthur’s good mood as his cheeks was peppered with kisses. Especially as their morning of fun activities with their baby had been sort of derailed. What surprised him the most was that Mordred hadn’t joined in on the love fest as it was always one of the young man’s favorite past times. Which caused him to look over at his little elf who was checking out the bedtime books in the basket.

“Dragon story!” Said Mordred to them as he watched the boy carefully take that particular book out of the pile.

“Yes, Sweetheart. Papa guessed you might like that one.” Merlin said, glad to see that his pick had his little’s approval.

“We can go home and read it for nap time.” Said his husband who picked up the basket.

“Stormy might like to hear it as well” said Merlin as he guided them toward the cash register.

“Really?” Said the young man to Arthur and him as they started placing books on the counter.

“Of course, love.” Said Arthur who he noticed was cautiously taken the paperback from the boy. “Even the dragons on your wall will like this.”

The thought of the mural in the nursery, caused Merlin to recall his conversation from earlier with Morgause. For they had quietly discussed the wall painting between the two of them while the others ate. Which had been about whether Arthur, Mordred, and he had figured out what the dragons truly represented. Of course, Merlin had no idea what she was referring to but would hopeful take a better look at the mural when his family got home.

 

Merlin had original gone into the nursery with Mordred to take care of a much-needed diaper change. However, it was only after a clean little’s feet were placed on the floor, did Merlin take a look at the dragons that he had done over a year ago. He had only painted the beautiful creatures as the whole concept had been mostly Morgause’s idea. For she had been the one who had worked with him on the layout of where the mythical beast would be placed and what color each would be.

Thus, resulting in his little prince and him staring at the mural, both trying to figure out what could possibly be the meaning. Which then led Arthur to join them in their quest to figure out what the message was, with Maxwell in tow. As they had been upstairs for a rather long time since it wasn’t supposed to take them that long to go back downstairs to watch the movie like planned.

“Me!” Said Mordred who ran toward the wall and pointed to the green dragon. “This me!”

Merlin took a step toward the young man as he was still a bit confused on what the boy was referring to. Before he reached Mordred, it dawned on him about how that specific creature was in the middle of the mural and smaller than the rest. Perhaps his little elf was right but what did that mean for the rest of the flying beasts came to his mind.

“Papa!” Said his little one showing them the blue dragon that was flying below the green one.

Suddenly, Merlin figured out that the mythical beasts on the mural were representing their family and friends. He deducted that they were based on colors and from what he had gathered, it happened to be their favorite one. For the dragon that he figured had to be Arthur’s was above the green dragon and seemed to form a circle of protection with the blue one.

“Which one is Daddy?” Asked Merlin wondering if he was correct and hoping Mordred knew for sure.

“The red dragon.” Said Mordred pointing at the one that confirmed he had truly decoded the design.

Merlin moves away to take a better look at the rest of the dragons in hopes of figuring out which one was who. However, he noticed that the other flying beast formed a bigger circle as if they were guarding the three dragons that signified his family of three. Of course, Merlin knew this was accurate as his friends and family had help them so much this past year.

“The purple one is Morgana?” Asked his husband who seemed to him had caught on to what Mordred and he had already determined.

“Uh-huh.” Said Mordred turning to them with a smile before it curved into a pouting. “But no Max dragon.”

“Oh, I’m sure if I ask Auntie Morgause nicely” said Merlin noticed that the boy was looking over at the puppy. “She will let me add a black tiny one.”

“Yay!” said Mordred smiling at him before hugging him, Arthur and then the pup.

Of course, Merlin had already planned on calling Morgause once the mystery within the mural had been solved. Especially since Mordred had cracked the code just like she said would happen and she most likely already knew about the addition of Maxwell being desired by his little. Plus, there was still one thing that he wanted to ask her about and that was the star above the dragons.

For the glowing orb seemed like a random object in the whole scheme of flying beast with the forest trees and blue sky. However, he did know it had to represent something and he hoped a discussion with her would prove what he was thinking was correct. As Merlin decide there and then, the star must be a symbol of their love for each other shining brightly below them all.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arthur threw the bouncy ball in the direction of the shed in the backyard and wondered if perhaps he had put a bit too much force in to it. For the object would sail right over his little knight’s head instead of in the range which a catch could have been made. Therefore, allowing for Maxwell the puppy who was outside as well to go chasing after the plastic green ball.

This caused him to watch the pup push the ball with its nose around the yard. Which had him smiling since he got to see Mordred chasing Maxwell around to grab the object. A very cute image and one worthy of him videoing with his cell phone. As he knew everyone would enjoy the scene as well as get an opportunity to awe at the little with puppy.

Of course, Arthur had to put a stop to all the fun when he realized the pup was starting to bite at the ball. For he did not wanting an upset Mordred if the toy popped, especially since today was a special day. Thus, he nabbed the plastic ball after a fast run, before that could occur and announced it was swing set time.

Arthur quickly checked on Mordred who was moving from one section to the next on the monkey bars while he placed the ball into the shed. He hoped the boy was too occupied with playing to looking into the storage container. Since the plastic pool that had been out all summer last year, had been stuffed inside the shed and he knew one sighting of it by his baby might start the puppy eyes for the item to be set out.

Even if it was too cold for such a thing to be used, Arthur knew he had no will power when it came to Mordred's pouty face and tears. Which made him think of what a stock difference a year could made. That this time late year, he wouldn't have thought to call Mordred baby nor bend to the young man’s sad eyes.

"Daddy?" He heard Mordred call and he turned to witness that the boy had moved to the swings.

"Yes, love?" Asked Arthur as he got closer toward the young man." What can I do for you?"

"Push me." Said Mordred who was pointing at the baby chair while grinning at him. “Please.”

"Are you sure about that?” Questioned Arthur as he walked over to the young man a bit anxious.

“Yes, daddy.” Said Mordred who actually allowed him to pick up in order to place into the swing.

Arthur’s worries melted away as he heard giggles come from his little knight as he pushed the swing. For there had been concerns from Merlin and him about whether or not Mordred would like the idea of the baby seat when they had original discussed the idea of the playground equipment with Percy and Gwaine back in October of last year for Mordred’s birthday present. However, he would have to thank the young man’s best friend for advocating that the swing would be a good notion to have. Especially since he could see the huge smile on the boy’s face.

Arthur took a seat at the kitchen table while looking around to see what was going on in the room as he had been in the hallway replying to a text from Percy when Merlin had called him for lunch. He noticed his little knight was already in the dragon fabric high chair and munching on fish shaped crackers. As for his husband, Merlin appeared to him to be grabbing a glass of ice tea from the fridge since everything else was already on the table.

This gave him the chance to nab the green plastic bowl sitting on the counter with cooling mac and cheese that happened to be for Mordred. As he had decided at that moment, it need to be his turn to feed the young man today. Especially since he rarely got the opportunity to do so and Merlin stood too far away to steal the container from him.

"Look what Daddy has for you!" Said Arthur holding up a spoon full for Mordred to see. "Yummy lunch."

Arthur was rewarded with a smile from the young man who had stopped searching for crackers to look at what he had. Of course, they would be having the young man’s favorite food as it was the first meal that Mordred had enjoyed with them. To him and he knew his husband felt the same way, it was considered a sort of tradition for the day and would be hopefully for the future April 23rds as well.

"Mordred seems to likes trains today." Said Merlin as his husband join them at the table with drinks in hand." The locomotive coming into the station worked well this morning."

"I do seem to recall that." Said Arthur as he remembered Merlin making choo-choo sound at the diner earlier. "Thanks, I'll take that in consideration."

Of course, that trick didn't work for him as it had done so this morning for Merlin. Since their little one liked to be a challenge when it came to meal time. For Mordred liked to remain tight lipped until the person with the utensil figured out which mode of transportation the boy wanted at that given second. Thus, sparking an idea in his mind as it had been awhile since this one had been used.

"Here comes the mustang. vroom-vroom" Said Arthur as he moved the spoon around instead of in a straight line like he had been doing before. "It's needs to pull into the driveway."

The result that he got turned out to be a giggle from the young man who seemed to approve of his approach. For the spoon didn't make impact with a frowning face or sealed lips but an open mouth waiting to be feed. Therefore, making him the winner of the lunch game, if one could be considered a champion for getting Mordred to eat with his silly movements and car sounds.

Then for a split second, Arthur thought back to how this scene had played out a year ago. It was quite remarkable to him the difference that had occur in that short yet long time. Then Arthur recalled how things were two years ago and suddenly to him being silly with his little boy wasn’t such a crazy thing after all. As Arthur decided instead to appreciate the young man in front of him as well as the man across the table and the wonderful life he had because of them.

 

Arthur tapped away on his tablet, trying to answer a work-related e-mail while watching the baseball game. He has assumed with Merlin putting Mordred down for a nap, he might have some free time as his husband usually stay with their little. However, hearing footsteps come down the stairs, Arthur knew that would not be the case and he quickly finished his message before hitting the send button.

"I thought you were going to rest with Mordred?" Asked Arthur as his husband entered the room. "Did Maxwell taken up too much space and kick you out of bed?"

"No, he was curled up at the foot of the crib." Said Merlin standing off to the side and seemed to be puzzled if Arthur had to make a guess. "I just got so many things going on inside my head, I can't relax enough to sleep."

"Well, come sit down and talk to me." Said Arthur as he patted the empty section of couch next to him. "Maybe I can help you with whatever is the problem."

"I don't think that going to work for me." Said Merlin sitting down on the sofa but away from him.

"Just try it. You listen to me all the time. Like last week when I told you about my father’s sudden decision to retire at the end of this year and wanting to train me for the CEO position. " Said Arthur while moving closer to his husband. “And if you remember, you were the one who came up with the plan to have me talk with the board to give it to my sister."

"I might recall that" Said his husband who’s left hand he grabbed to hold in a supportive way.

"Exactly." Said Arthur smiling while he felt his hand get a tight squeeze. “So, spill the beans, I’m all ears.”

"I'm worried about Mordred and what going to happen next." Said Merlin looking him in the eyes and Arthur could see the stress as well as worry. "He so comfortable with being a little now."

"Don't you think like that Merlin. He's not Lance." Said Arthur figuring out where his husband was going. "Mordred is not going to leave us just because he submerged into the world of being a baby little and I have proof."

"You do?" Asked his husband who suddenly didn't seem so upset but thrilled.

"Yes, you idiot." Said Arthur as he pulled out his gold chain from the shirt he was wearing. "This right here."

"Oh, you are such a cabbage head." Said Merlin who let go off his hand, left the couch, and stormed off to the kitchen

"No, you need to listen to me. I wasn't finished." Said Arthur as he followed his husband into the next room. "Today at the bookstore. A young girl asked Mordred about his necklace. Do you want to know what he told her?"

Of course, I do you prat." Said Merlin facing him with crossed arms and a glare.

"He explained to the other little that this was a remind of our love whether we are near or far." Said Arthur hugging his annoyed husband. "And that our bond was unbreakable."

"Mordred really said that." Said Merlin returned his hug as well as sounding less upset to him.

"He did. I have it recorded if you need further evidence." Said Arthur placing a kiss on his husband cheek. "He's is ours forever and ever. So just remember that the next time he threw a massive tantrum."

Hearing Merlin's laughter at his statement only helped Arthur with his own mind full of worries and doubts. For he knew whatever the future held for them, they had each other to help ride out the good and bad with. Plus, didn’t the old saying go that the first year was supposed to be the hardest not the second.

 

Arthur flipped the channel to a different baseball game as the one he had been watching just ended, when he heard movement on the baby monitor. This put him in a tough situation since his husband had fell asleep on him a bit after their talk from earlier. Plus, if he didn’t get up to attend to the waking young man upstairs, there would be tears which might rouse his dozy husband.

Luckily for Arthur, there were plenty of pillows in his reach to use as a replacement which would allow him to dislodge himself from his husband. So, Arthur careful moved and placed cushions in his place as quickly as he could while checking to make sure Merlin was still asleep. Then he grabbed the baby monitor as well as tip-toping toward the stairs to head upstairs.

 

Once in the nursery, Arthur found his little knight who was yawning and to him appeared to be half-awake. This gave Arthur an idea as he pulled down the side of the crib while taking a look at the clock. For he noticed that the boy had only be napping for a short while. Therefore, Arthur sat down on the bed hoping he would be able to get the boy to go back down to snooze for a bit longer.

“Did you have a nice dream, love?” Questioned Arthur as searched for the binky he knew the boy had lost while asleep like usual

“Uh-huh” said Mordred who snuggled up to him like he had planned. “Went to the beach.”

“Was papa and I there with you?” Asked Arthur as his hand found the handle of the pacifier.

“Yep, and Max too” Said the young man yawn before taking the pacifier that he was offering.

“Oh, that sound like a great vision.” Said Arthur as he smiled at Mordred and noticed the boy appeared to be staring at the dragons on the wall.

Arthur look over at the star in the mural while debating with himself if he should ask Mordred about it. Since he wasn’t as artsy as his husband or the young man and didn’t want to be interpretation the idea of the yellow object wrong. For all he could think about was the fact that it happened to be right below the red, blue, and green dragons. Which represented to him that the star was shining down on his family as if to help guide them in the right direction on their journey together.

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Mordred sat in his usual spot on the couch in the living room and was cuddled with his papa while munching on some yummy popcorn. As he watched Daddy deciding which movie they were going to see tonight. Since to him, it didn't matter as Mordred was just glad to be with both his daddies and enjoying this everyday occurrence. For he was amazed that they still want to hang out with him all the time even though it had already been a year of togetherness.

As Mordred had be certain in his head back when he was just becoming a little that by now they would have gotten bored with having him around. However, it seemed the opposite effect had occurred as days turned to weeks and weeks to months. This led him to believe his daddies weren’t about to change that why they acted or felt about him as the beginning of year two started.

Even at this moment, he could see his favorite movie case being taken out from the shelve of DVDs. Which he figured had been seen by all three of them at least a hundred viewing or so. However, Mordred knew that his daddies would be willing to watch it a million more just to make him happy and that caused a smile to appear on his face.

For Mordred realized even with it being over 365 days since he started living here which was a bit of shock to him when he took a moment to fully think about it. His daddies would always treat him like a treasure item that they were lucky to have. Something he only ever hoped to be back when he had been just a lonely young man in a cold apartment building looking out the window at the night sky.

 

Mordred giggled at his fuzzy black puppy who was pawing at his hand in search of a willing participant to give a nice long belly rub. For Mordred realized that Maxwell had a fondness of tummy scratches and he always did give in to the Scottie pup. Especially since Mordred found, he couldn’t say no when there was the stare of sad beautiful eyes that seemed to gaze at him relentlessly.

Of course, Mordred knew there would be a thank you from the pup in the form of his face being licked. Which would make him feel a warmth inside at the unconditional love that came from the black puppy. As he had never quite understood what it was like to have something that no matter what he did, give him it’s heart so completely.

At that moment, Mordred realized his thought process had been quite wrong, for his daddies gave him the same kind of love. Even when he had a tantrum with thrown pillows and kicked feet, there were only ever hugs and kisses afterwards. Plus, they always celebrated the smallest things he did like trying new food without quickly spitting it out.

Then Mordred noticed while he was thinking, that his hands had found his gold necklace. This reminded him that he gave unrestricted love to Maxwell and his daddies as he never questioned how his heart felt for them. Thus, causing Mordred to sniffle as he didn't want to cry over the wonderful notion that he sensed about it all be a grand circle of endearment for the four of them.

So, feeling like he was going to the over flow with joy, Mordred snuggled his puppy in his arms to keep the tears at bay. While ever so thankful that Maxwell seemed happy for the hug and he made sure to place a kiss on the pup’s head. For he wanted the Scottie to know how much he did care for the fuzzy creature as well as whispering "I love you to help convey his affection.

 

Mordred hadn't meant to splash so much during bath time but he felt so happy that it was hard to control himself. Plus, the tug boat which had been crossing the sea of water towards him just seemed to need a wave to get moving to where the rubber duck sat. Thus, he gave a remorseful smile to Daddy whose shirt was drenched in soapy water.

Of course, his daddy was the best in his opinion and instead of getting mad or upset at him, Arthur just splashed him right back. This caused him to giggle while Daddy laughed at their sort of water war. A silly game which ended with the bathtub having to be refilled for his hair and such to be washed.

Then it was like the countless nights before, a soft warm towel appeared to signal the end of their fun and back to the task at hand. Sometimes he tried to stall by getting out slowly and other times, he was quick as a bunny. Tonight, he decided to choose the latter of the two options that he had to pick from. For it was still chilly at night and he rather already be in his cozy jammies.

So, he allowed Daddy to pick him up which would let them to get to the nursery faster than if he walked with bare cold feet. For he knew and found himself to be correct that Papa had already set everything up like usual. In addition, he figured the sooner that he was dressed for bed the quicker it would be time for a story and cuddle with Papa. Since he wanted so badly to hear the new book about a dragon that was purchased at the store earlier today that they had all forgot about at nap time.

 

Mordred awoke groggily and a bit confused as he figured sleep had only had a hold on him for a short time. Since he could hear music playing from his phone which usually stop within a half hour frame. This made Mordred wonder what had caused him to leave dreamland as he sat up to look around the room to solve the mystery.

Then he spotted the intruders who had roused him from his slumber. For the dragon nightlight shown two shadows that he knew extremely well. That his daddies had returned to the nursery and most like stepped on a toy or something which made a noise and disturbed him

"Sorry to wake you, Love." Said his daddy who was pulling down the side of the crib. "Just needed to give you a kiss goodnight."

"We usually always place one on your forehead before leaving the room but my phone went off." Explained Papa who hugged him before kissing his head. "Have sweet dreams Honey and remember Papa loves you."

"The worst part was that it was a telemarketer." Whisperer Daddy who reached over to smother him in kisses. "Love you, Mordred."

"luv you lots." Said Mordred who sleepily smiled at his daddies.

Mordred felt so lucky to have such wonderful parents as he watched them leave the room before covering himself up with his soft warm fleece. He knew that his daddies loved him more and more each day which put a smile on his face. For Mordred understood that he felt the same way about them as he found his binky to place into his mouth.

Then a new song started to play on his phone, _A moonlight by Nick Glennie-Smith_. This melody made him think of a beautiful starry sky as a yawn passed his lips. Realizing how tired he was Mordred decided to lay down as he had been sitting up. He quickly grabbed all three of his stuffed animals to cuddle with before getting comfortable.

The one thing he did before placing his head on his pillow as the images of the night brought something to his mind, was to thank the star shining above the dragon artwork. For it to him signified that one bright light that had finally decided to redeemed his wish from a long ago about wanting a family of his own. Since it had been validated the moment that he had the fortune to meet Arthur and Merlin.


End file.
